Insects and pests
Oregon Floriculture CDE Vale Style
1. Aphids
APHIDS
• Small (up to ¼”) softbodied insects.
• The characteristic
feature that
distinguishes aphids
from other insects are
the “tail pipes” (called
cornicles) which extend
from the rear of their
abdomen.
Aphids
•
Aphids, or plant lice, are small, softbodied, pear shaped insects which are
commonly found on nearly all indoor
and outdoor plants, as well as
vegetables, field crops, and fruit trees.
There are hundreds of different species
of aphids. Some of them feed only one
host plant, while others will feed on
many other plants. Most aphids are
about 1/10 inch long, and although
most of them are green or black, they
may be gray, brown, pink, red, yellow,
or lavender. A characteristic common to
all aphids is the presence of two tubes,
called cornices, on the back ends of
their bodies, sort of like "tailpipes".
Aphids
2. Leaf Hopper
Leafhopper
•
Leafhoppers are one of the largest
families of plant-feeding insects.
There are more leafhopper species
worldwide than all species of birds,
mammals, reptiles, and
amphibians combined.
Leafhoppers feed by sucking the
sap of vascular plants, and are
found almost anywhere such
plants occur, from tropical
rainforests, to arctic tundra.
Several leafhopper species are
important agricultural pests.
3. Leaf Miner
LEAF MINER
• Insect larvae that feed
inside a leaf, between
the upper and lower
surfaces.
Leaf Miner
•
Leaf miners form a natural rather than
a taxonomic group of insect species
that are adapted to a special type of
environment.
Definition: A leaf miner is a species, the
larva of which lives and feeds for a part
of all of its time between the epidermal
layers of a leaf. The mining insects have
habits that grade into gall making and
deeper plant boring as well as external
feeders and scavengers. There is little
difference between a borer and a
miner except that the borer feeds
deeper in the tissues of plant.
Leaf Miner Damage
Leaf Miner Larva
4. Mealy bugs
MEALY BUG
• Mealybugs derive their
name from the white,
waxy, mealy secretions
that cover their bodies.
Mealy Bugs
•
MEALYBUGS - Mealybugs make up a
variety of genera consisting of sucking
insects that are often covered by a
powdery coating of wax. Male
mealybugs are tiny, gnat-like insects.
Females are usually oval, flattened,
wingless and coated in white, wax
hairs. They can be found on many
different hosts and on all parts of
plants. Use of beneficial insects is a
popular method of mealybug control in
greenhouses. Insecticidal soap is a
suitable treatment method if there is
only small number of infested plants.
Mealy Bugs
Mealy Bug
Mealy Bug
Mealy Bug
5. Scale
SCALE
• Either soft scales or
armored scales
• Covered with waxy shell
for most of their life
which protects them
from predators or
insecticides
Scale Insects
•
Scale insects suck the fluids from your
plants' leaves and stems, robbing them
of essential nutrients. Leaves wither
and yellow and may drop from the
plant. Indoors, scale insects thrive in
the warm, dry environment and may
produce up to six new generations on
houseplants each year.
Scale
Scale
6. Slugs
SLUG
• Slugs are gastropod
mollusks without shells
or with very small
internal shells, in
contrast to snails.
Slugs
•
Slugs carry no shell. The most common
slug, the Large Red Slug, comes in as
many colors as the Garden Snails do. It
is sometimes red or orange, but can be
white, yellow, brown or black as well.
You can easily recognize the Large Red
Slug thanks to the rim between the
body and the foot. The rim is redorange independent of the color of the
rest of the body. This rule only applies
to the adults. The juveniles however
lack the orange rim, but may have a
beautiful black head instead. They slug
may grow to be some 15 centimeters
long!
7. Snails
Snails
•
Left you see the best known snail: the
Garden Snail. But did you know there
are actually two species? The only way
to tell them apart is by looking at their
lipp (the opening of the shell). In one
species the lipp has a light band and
therefore the animal is called the
White-lipped Snail. In the other species
this band is brownish or black. This
species is thus called... the Brownlipped Snail. Both species can have
exactly the same colors and both come
in yellow, pink, brown and all shades of
these colors. Their shells are identical
as well, so only the color of the lip gives
them away.
8. Spider Mites
SPIDER MITE
• To the naked eye, spider
mites look like tiny
moving dots
• Adults have eight legs
and an oval body, with
two red eyespots near
the head end of the
body.
Spider Mites
•
Spider mites are common pest
problems on many plants around
yards and gardens in Colorado.
Injury is caused as they feed,
bruising the cells with their small,
whiplike mouthparts and ingesting
the sap. Damaged areas typically
appear marked with many small,
light flecks, giving the plant a
somewhat speckled appearance.
Spider Mite
Spider Mites
Spider Mite
9. Spittle Bugs
Spittle Bug
•
There are 23,000 species of spittle
bugs, but you may not have ever
seen one because of the unusual
way that they protect themselves.
They actually produce a liquid that
they whip up into a mass of
bubbles, and then they hide in it!
This mass of bubbles is called
"spittle" and is where the insect
gets its name. Check it out in the
photo above. Most of the time the
spittle bugs are completely hidden
inside the spittle.
10.White Flies
WHITEFLY
• Adults are less than
1/8” long and, like their
name suggests, have
white wings with pale
yellow bodies.
• Adult whiteflies
congregate above and
under leaf surfaces, and
disperse in clouds when
disturbed.
Whiteflies
•
Whiteflies are small, 1/16 inch long,
white, winged insects that suck sap
from leaves of various plants including
house plants, garden flowers,
vegetables and weeds. The leaves of
ingested plants may turn yellow, be
twisted or stunted, wither and drop
prematurely. Leaves also may be sticky
with honeydew, a sugary solution
excreted by the whiteflies. Sometimes a
black fungus called sooty mold
develops on the honeydew, and adds to
the plant's problem by blocking out
light and interfering with
photosynthesis.
Whitefly
11. Thrips
THRIP
• Thrips are small (~1/8”
long) and narrowbodied insects
commonly found
feeding on leaves and
stems.
• The presence of thrips
gives a splotchy
appearance to leaves.
Thrips
Thrips
12. Fungus Knats
FUNGUS GNATS
• Adult fungus gnats are
about 1/8 to 1/10 inch
(2.5 mm) long, grayish
to black, slender,
mosquito-like, and
delicate with long legs,
antennae and one pair
of wings.
Fungus Gnat