I'm pleased that I may have found the cause of the problems I've been having with my eggplants. I found three of these ugly bugs on the stems of the wilting plants on the right side of the picture. I submitted a photograph to BugGuide http://bugguide.net and it was identified as a treehopper nymph http://bugguide.net/node/view/64307/bgimage though it seems to be unusual for them to do serious damage to plants. These are definitely girdling the stems of my plants. They are big enough and few enough for me to just squish them - now that I know what to look for. I think they are the cause of the plants wilting, leaves curling, small spots on leaves and aphids on the plants. I squished and sprayed with Sevin. Until now, the eggplants have been looking pretty good.
topic: eggplant
Hey Skippy - you might want to check out the extoxnet http://extoxnet.orst.edu/ data on Sevin - and move to an environmentally friendly way to control pests rather than polluting your own garden.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I was embarassed when my sister with 2 babies visited earlier this week and I had to keep telling them - don't crawl here, don't crawl there - because of the Sevin and the Slug-off. I will look at the site you recommend and look for alternatives.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - you have a great site! Hope you don't mind that I linked to it.