Australian garden insects with Denis Crawford
Melon aphids (Aphis gossypii) are major pests of lots of different plants throughout the world. I first had them on my cucumber plants a couple of months ago, and now they have moved onto my zucchini plants.
What did I do? Spray the aphids with insecticide? Pull the plants out?
Check the video to find out!
What would you have done? Please let me know in the comments.
Subtitle: Gumtree scale insects, honeydew & and a tiny black ladybird
Many sap-sucking insects produce honeydew, but gumtree scale insects take it to a whole new level. These scale insects produce vast amounts of honeydew. Check out how it attracts lots of other insects, including ants and flies.
Gumtree scales (Eriococcus spp.) are members of the felt scale family Eriococcidae. You can see why they are called ‘felted’ scale by the female gumtree scales – they look like they live in a felted sac. These native insects are common in the Australian bush and they are not pests in natural bushland.
There is a little surprise in this video in the form of a tiny black ladybird (ladybug) beetle – the gumtree scale ladybird (Rhyzobius ventralis) – a specific predator of gumtree scale insects.
In the video I refer to other videos about a couple of related felted scales:
Kunzea felted scale
and
Tea-tree flower gall scale
I hope you enjoy this video. Please let me know what you think in the comments..
My latest YouTube video: “Aphids on sedum plants & the predators that control them”.
Sedum plants attract aphids that are specific to sedums and other plants in the family Crassulaceae.
The aphid is the ‘stonecrop’ aphid (Aphis sedi). It is greenish-black with pale legs and antennae. Have you seen this aphid? It occurs throughout Europe and parts of Asia and North America, as well as here.
The aphids on my sedum plants are controlled by various predators. All I have to do is hold my nerve. Did I manage to do that this year, or did I have to spray the aphids? Check out the video to find out.