troubled plants

[sinden]

hello all

may i ask for a bit of info? can someone tell me what's affecting these plants? the long one is artichoke, the other is lemon.

many thanks and gratitude.

sinden

[Jardin du Fort]

The artichoke leaf looks like it has been attacked by a Japanese beetle. They eat the soft tissues and leave the veins.

The lemon looks like maybe a couple of things. It may be getting too much light, or not enough water, yellowing the leaf tips. There is something else attacking it too, though. Maybe a bug or a virus????

[sinden]

i thought it might be beetles. how do i get rid of them?

thank you!

sinden

[Jardin du Fort]

It would be best if you can find the bug(s) so identification is possible. If it is indeed the Japanese beetle, you do NOT want to go out and buy Japanese beetle traps! These use a pheromone to attract the bugs, and you will end up attracting even MORE of them to your yard. Yes, you'll catch many, but why increase the population? Instead, there is a natural insecticide called "milky spore". It is a fungus that attacks the insects!

[hendi_alex]

Each year I plant lots of Fiesta Del Sol and Zinnia mix. The Japaneses beetles mostly spend their time on those plants and ignore the others. Interesting thing is, that I never notice any real damage on the flowering plants. So my advice is to plant some decoy plants that are very attractive to the Japanese beetles.

[imafan26]

The lemon looks like it might be aphids. Puckering of young leaves is a sign. Do the leaves have sooty mold?
Aphids and scale are very common pests of citrus. To control them you need to control the ants as well.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C107/m10 ... nvert.html

[rainbowgardener]

Another great trap crop for Japanese beetles is grapevine or wild grape. I have wild grape that grows as a weed and the JB's love it and stay there.

Milky spore can be purchased as a powder you put on your lawn, which is often where the grubs are. It is applied in spring, infects the grubs, so they don't emerge to become JB's. But it only works on the JB's, not other kinds of beetles, not even June bugs or other things with similar white grubs, so you do need to know what you have.

[imafan26]

There are some companion plants that also help deter beetles.

Planting garlic or onions helps.

Also planting four o'clocks as a trap crop. The beetles love them, and when they eat them they will die because it is toxic.

I also use lights to deter beetles from my roses. I plant my roses near the street light. I don't have problems with beetles there.

The light needs to be strong and on from dusk till about 10 pm, which is the peak feeding time of the beetles. Reflective mulches do help with that.

Weak light will actually attract the beetles and they can be captured like termites with a pan of soapy water.

[sinden]

thank you everyone! you've been most helpful.

happy gardening.

c