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tree & shrub pests
Aphids
Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the super-family Aphidoidea. Aphids are small, 1/16- to 1/8-inch-long (2-4 mm), pear-shaped, soft-bodied insects. They can range in color from green, black, red, yellow, brown or gray.
Asian Cycad Scale
The Asian cycad scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui, is an armored scale native to Thailand and southern China. Since it was found in Miami in 1996, it has spread quickly through Florida and other parts of the world on shipments of nursery stock. Asian cycad scales produce a white crust on the fronds of infested plants, making them appear as though they are snow covered. At its worst, an infestation of Asian cycad scale can completely coat a sago palm within months and cause its death within one year. The rapid reproduction of this insect – paired with its ability to infest root systems – makes Asian cycad scale among the most damaging insect pests of Florida.
Sooty Mold
Sooty Mold is a dark colored fungus that grows on honeydew excreted by piercing sucking insects or on substances exuded from leaves of certain plants. Common genera of sooty mold fungi found are Aethaloderma, Capnodium, Cladosporium, Euantennaria, Scorias, and Trichomerium.
Cabbage Maggot
The adult cabbage maggot is an ash gray, bristly fly that resembles a housefly, but is half as long and has black stripes on its thorax. Cabbage maggot larvae are 1/3 inch long (when mature), white and legless with bodies that taper toward their heads.
Caterpillars
A caterpillar is officially the larva, or immature form, of a flying insect — generally, a butterfly. Because caterpillars are growing rapidly, they tend to eat constantly, and for this reason they're considered pests by gardeners and farmers.
​Cutworms
Cutworms are fat, 1-inch-long, gray or black segmented larvae most active at night. They are found on most early vegetable and flower seedlings and transplants throughout North America. Cutworms chew through stems at ground level; they may completely devour small plants in May and June.
Colorado Potato Beetle
Colorado Potato Beetle are such a common pest in home gardens. Both the adult and larval forms chew leaves and can completely defoliate an entire crop if natural control methods are not implemented. Their feeding can greatly reduce yield and in some cases, may even kill plants.
Flea Beetle
Flea beetles are small, dark beetles that jump like fleas when disturbed. They hang out on most vegetable crops and are found throughout North America. There so many species of flea beetles, they vary in appearance quite a bit. Colors range from black to tan, with other, brighter colors mixed in, and the beetles may have a solid, striped, or spotted pattern depending on the species.
Mole Cickets
Mole crickets have front legs enlarged, shovel-like and modified for digging. Adults are cylindrical, nearly 1-1/2 inches long and dull brown. Cutworms chew through stems at ground level; they may completely devour small plants in May and June.
Japanese Beetles
The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, is a widespread and destructive pest of turf, landscape, and ornamental plants in the United States. It is also a pest of several fruit, garden, and field crops, and has a total host range of more than 300 plant species. Adult Japanese beetles feed on foliage, flowers, and fruits. Leaves are typically skeletonized or left with only a tough network of veins. The larvae, commonly known as white grubs, primarily feed on roots of grasses often destroying turf in lawns, parks, and golf courses.
Ash Plant-bug
Flea beetles are small, dark beetles that jump like fleas when disturbed. They hang out on most vegetable crops and are found throughout North America. There so many species of flea beetles, they vary in appearance quite a bit. Colors range from black to tan, with other, brighter colors mixed in, and the beetles may have a solid, striped, or spotted pattern depending on the species.
Bagworms
This insect is usually first detected by observing the bags produced by the larval (caterpillar) stages. Bags vary in size (up to 2 inches long and ½ inch wide) by growth stage (instar) of the larva and between species, and appearance varies with the bits and pieces of host plant leaves, twigs and bark fragments woven in to the silken bag in a shingle-like fashion.
Mealybug
Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Many species are considered pests by some humans as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a vector for several plant diseases.
Bacterial Leaf Scorch
Leafhopper insects carry and transmit this bacterium throughout the host tree. The bacteria cause a disruption to the trees watering ability by clogging vital watering channels. Leaf scorching cause’s severe damage to the host tree making it unsafe and causing eventual death.
Chlorosis
Chlorosis is a yellowing of leaf tissue due to a lack of chlorophyll. Possible causes of chlorosis include poor drainage, damaged roots, compacted roots, high alkalinity, and nutrient deficiencies in the plant. The lack of iron is one of the more common nutrients associated with chlorosis. Manganese or zinc deficiencies in the plant will also cause chlorosis.
Holly Leafminer
Holly Leafminer fly that lays its eggs in the leaf of the Holly tree and feeds on the leaves. The adult of both is a small black fly only about 1/8 inch long; the larva, a maggot, tunnels in the leaves causing yellowish or brown winding trails or blotches. Leaves may also become distorted and flecked with tiny brown dots.
Galls
Plant galls are formed from abnormal vegetative growth produced by a plant under the influence of an insect, mite, bacterium, fungus, or nematode.
Honeylocust Plant Bug
Honeylocust Plant Bugare oval and range up to 1/8 inch long as nymphs and ¼ inch long as adults. Feeding by the honey locust plant bug results in leaf distortion, chlorosis, and yellow-to-brown spots. Heavy plant bug infestations may cause premature leaf drop, but typically a second flush of leaves is produced. Despite the damage to the foliage, trees do not die.
Honeylocust Spider Mite
Oak spider mites may be hard to see with the naked eye but they are a serious pest for homeowners and if left untreated can kill your Oak trees. Yellowing and whitish patches appear on the leaves of the tree and can turn brown and fall with heavy infestations.
Laurel Wilt
A fungus disease of the Red Bay, Avocado, and other trees that stops the water flow within the host tree and causes the leaves to wilt and die.
Chinch Bug
Adult chinch bugs are almost 3/16-inch long, have black bodies and fully developed wings that appear frosty-white except for distinctive triangular black patch-like markings at the middles of the outer margins. Adults appear as either long-winged or short-winged forms
White Grubs
White grubs are the immature forms of scarab beetles, the well-known May/June beetles, masked chafer, and Japanese beetle. They are typically grow about 1 inch long. Their soft, plump, gray-white bodies have brown heads and six distinct legs. When disturbed, white grubs curl into a C-shape.
Whiteflies
Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. Common on indoor plants, is often found in thick crowds on the undersides of leaves. They damage plants by sucking the juices from new growth causing stunted growth, leaf yellowing and reduced yields. Plants become weak and susceptible to disease.
