We had a pretty nice planter full of flowers, but now at the tips of the flowers you can see this white mossy looking disease that kills the flower then works its way down the stem and then the stem just keels over. In just the past few days I noticed its spread throughout just about the entire planter. Can anyone ID? and can it be eradicated if I just cut off all the diseased stems?

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Posted by CrawDude

Baton Rouge

Member since Apr 2019

5285 posts

Posted on 10/8/19 at 10:19 am to Who_Dat_Tiger

Looks like either scale, mealybugs or possibly aphids - portulaca flower? Look up those up insects up and see if it fits the description of what you are seeing. If so you can spray with insecticidal soap or all-seasons horticultural oil. Available at hardware stores, plant nurseries. Big box stores may have them - not sure. You can cut off the infected stems if you want but I’d suggest you spray anyway.

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Posted by bluemoons

the marsh

Member since Oct 2012

5523 posts

Posted on 10/8/19 at 10:44 am to Who_Dat_Tiger

quote:
white mossy looking disease

Most likely mealybugs. They're little, soft-bodied white bugs covered in a cotton-like substance. They congregate at forks in the stem and by the tips of flowers/stems. You can rough up the little cotton looking patches with your fingers to find the bugs.

Like craw said, insecticidal soap works. So does neem oil and permethrin. I only know this because I had to figure out what they were/what killed them last year. Permethrin seemed to work the best.

This post was edited on 10/8/19 at 10:45 am

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Posted by lsuson

Metairie

Member since Oct 2013

12237 posts

Posted on 10/8/19 at 11:10 am to Who_Dat_Tiger

Neem oil or insecticidal soap should work. Don't use regular soap like Dove. You'll remove the natural wax off the plants making the problem worse.

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Posted by Athis