Content
- Lice on the hydrangea - what helps against the pests?
- Lifestyle of the lice
- The look
- This is how you recognize the infestation
- remedy
- Stinging Nettle Broth: Environmentally friendly and effective
- Biological sprays
- Tips & Tricks
Aphids on a hydrangea can chase you away with a stinging nettle
Lice on the hydrangea - what helps against the pests?
Due to the relatively robust foliage hydrangeas are not among the plants that are very often attacked by lice. In favorable weather conditions, however, the animals can multiply invasively and then do not stop in front of the hydrangea.
Lifestyle of the lice
Almost all lice species overwinter in the egg on the host plants and hatch when it starts to warm in the spring. The first generations of noxious insects reproduce asexually and can thus very quickly produce many offspring. It usually takes less than a week for a new generation of lice to grow up. Later in the year airworthy offspring are born that reproduce sexually and can infest even more distant plants.
The look
Lice are among the most common plant pests. Most representatives of the species are only a few millimeters in size and are colored depending on the species green, reddish brown or blackish brown. Woll lice, which are also called mealybugs, reach a body length of one to twelve millimeters and are well identified by the dense hairiness.
This is how you recognize the infestation
Since aphids are not as small as, for example, spider mites, you can usually discover the animals with the naked eye. Another sign that suggests aphid infestation is the sticky shiny honeydew plaque on the leaves as well as leaf deformations of the young shoots.
remedy
If only individual plants are affected, it is often sufficient to spray the hydrangea on several consecutive days with a sharp stream of water. The pests are thereby flushed by the leaves. The flightless lice are unable to crawl back to the host plant and die.
Stinging Nettle Broth: Environmentally friendly and effective
Undiluted nettle broth works very well against aphids. You can easily make these yourself:
Effective with this environmentally friendly spray is the nettle poison, which reliably kills the lice.
Biological sprays
Also Kaliseifenlauge and spraying with tea tree oil have been proven. If you prefer insecticides from the trade, you should only choose products that protect beneficials. Aphids have many natural enemies, such as ladybirds, hoverfly larvae, predator bugs or spiders, which help keep the number of pests on the hydrangea in check.
Tips & Tricks
Woll lice with their protective wax tank are a little harder to combat and can be very persistent. If the hydrangea is attacked by these pests, usually only help special insecticides.