The Landscape Alert
An Outreach of the Center for Urban Agriculture - www.gaurbanag.org
- Is it Safe to Apply Herbicides During Spring Green-Up of Turfgrasses?
- Potential for Frost across Georgia Looming Early Next Week
- Ground or Digger Bees Attack Landscapes
- Azalea Lace bugs Best Controlled Early in the Season
- Ambrosia Beetles: An Early Season Tree & Shrub Threat
- Southern Red Mite
- Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Found in Forsyth County
- Florida Betony Control
- Fall Management of Large Patch Disease in Turfgrass
- Lantana Lace Bug Control
- Prevent White Grubs in Turf Now!
- Protect Landscape Trees Now from Drought Injury
- It is Time to Control Mole Crickets!
- Check St. Augustine Lawns Now for Chinch Bugs!
- Powdery Mildew in the Landscape
- Take All Root Rot Damages Centipede and St. Augustine Lawns
Lantana Lace Bug Control
Willie Chance, UGA Extension Agent, Houston County
August 22, 2008
Lantanas can bloom from June through early October in Georgia. Lantana lace bug can stop blooming in the summer leaving green plants with no blooms. The lantana lace bug is a small brown insect up to 1/6 inch long. Adult lace bugs are long, oval insects with a midsection that is slightly wider than the ends. The rear of the lantana lace bug is blunt but rounded off. The young are dull-colored and spiny. Look for the lantana lace bug by shaking the branch over a piece of white paper or light-colored cloth.
Lace bugs feed on the bottom of the leaves and young flower buds. They make the top of the leaves speckled with white, similar to mite injury. Underneath the leaf you may see brown, tarry spots that are the insect’s droppings. Since lace bugs feed on young flower buds, lantana bloom may be severely reduced or stopped completely.
Cultural Control:
Lace bugs do have several natural enemies that help to control their numbers – spiders, lacewing larvae, assassin bugs and predaceous mites.
Planting resistant varieties may help reduce lace bug numbers.
Lantanas that are more resistant to lantana lace bug:
Weeping White, White Lightning, Weeping Lavender, Imperial Purple, Patriot Rainbow, Denholm Dwarf White, Radiation, Dallas Red, Gold Mound, New Gold and Lemon Swirl
Cultivars of Lantana montevidensis.
Small leafed varieties seem to be more resistant than large leafed varieties, although both types can be attacked by lantana lace bugs.
More susceptible:
Patriot Desert Sunset, Pink Frolic and Patriot Sunburst
If cultural and natural controls do not limit the lacewing population, you may need to treat with chemicals.
Chemical Control:
You can treat plants with Orthene (acephate), imidacloprid, or other systemic insecticides. See the Pest Management Handbook for details.
Read and follow all label directions when using pesticides. Check the plants in two weeks or so and treat again if needed. The blooms should slowly return if temperatures are warm enough and other growing conditions are good.
Other problems that affect bloom: Blooming on lantana should slow down as temperatures drop in the fall. Lantanas like full sun, well drained soils, deep watering once a week and light fertilization. If the plant is lacking one of these, correct the problem. Prune off old seed pods or berries left from prior flowers. Re-fertilize lightly and water deeply once a week to encourage new blooms. Take care not to over fertilize since this may reduce flowering and increase disease susceptibility.
See the sources for much of this information:
Lantana Lace Bug
Resistance among Lantana Cultivars to the Lantana Lace Bug
Lantana
For more information:
Call your local Extension Agent at (800) ASK-UGA1 or locate your local Extension Office.
Pest Management Handbook (Follow all label recommendations when using any pesticide)
Read other Landscape Alerts.