Tree and Shrub Care

Crape myrtle bark scale (CMBS) has become a serious disease of crape myrtles in the tidewater area.  This tough insect is very difficult to treat and does not respond to traditional controls, Oils etc . These bark scales produce copious amounts of honeydew, the sugary waste the scale produces as it feeds on the plant’s phloem. As a result, the leaves, branches, and trunk become covered with black sooty mold, which grows on the honeydew.

Lace bug adults and nymphs feed on the underside of leaves by sucking fluids from plants' photosynthetic tissues. This causes pale stippling and bleaching that can become very obvious on the upper leaf surface by mid to late summer. Adults and nymphs also foul leaves with specks of dark, varnishlike excrement; and this excrement sometimes drips onto pavement and other surfaces beneath infested plants. Certain other true bugs and thrips also produce leaf stippling and dark excrement. Lace bugs area huge problem for azalesa

Twospotted mites suck cell contents from leaves, initially stippling leaves with a fine pale green mottling. As feeding continues, the stippling increases and leaves turn yellow with bronzed or brown areas; damaged leaves frequently fall. Undersides of leaves may have many cast skins of mites, and the webbing on foliage is unaesthetic. Plants may become severely stunted when large mite populations are allowed to feed and the plants may die. Mites are attracted to all Juniper species, Azaleas, Hollies and a few others

Leaves infected with leaf spot will yellow and may drop prematurely. The fungal blight can sustain itself and reproduce in the dead debris of the plant. This will cause the disease to further spread and possibly infect other plants. Leaf spot infects a variety of Trees and Shrubs

Bagworm caterpillars feed for about six weeks, enlarging the bag as they grow and withdrawing into it when disturbed. Older larvae strip evergreens of their needles and devour whole leaves of susceptible deciduous species leaving only the larger veins. When abundant, the caterpillars can defoliate plants. Heavy infestations over several consecutive years, especially when coupled with other stresses, can lead to plant death. 

This tent maker initiates and gradually enlarges its web in the crotches of the branches of its host. On warm, sunny days, the caterpillars will emerge from the web, which is used mostly for thermal protection on cold spring nights, and feed on the expanding foliage. Often, there will only be one tent per plant and not all similar plants within close proximity will be affected. Damage can range from light to heavy defoliation depending on the size of the tree attacked and the number of webs per tree.