AusBonsai

Hi everyone
Just a question, My azalea suddenly lost vigour and when i checked carefully I found on the underside of the leaves these tiny little black dots. When I gently rubbed them they rubbed off and when I rubbed my fingers together got this green brown smudge so I suspect some sort of bug. Can I use confidor on my azalea , it's not flowering at present and normally flowers in spring so few months away. Thanks for any advice
Cheers
Peterb

Is it lace bug poop? (Black dots in the attached photo).

Sorry haven't personally had to treat an azalea with insecticide before so cannot comment on the confidor.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Hello Peter,

Without a picture i can only guess at Azalea Lace Bug. These little buggers are prolific in Sydney and it's very uncommon to see an Azalea without their damaged leaves here.
As for spraying now, this maybe ineffective, i had a quick look into their life cycle and found the below information from Yates.

Azalea lace bugs are small soft bodied insects (3mm) with large lacy wings. They can be found
clinging to the underside of leaf surfaces. As the bugs are so small they are usually not detected until damage is
noticed on the leaves. The eggs of lace bugs overwinter on the mid veins of leaves before hatching in spring. Lace
bugs are attracted to a wide variety of ornamentals such as azaleas, rhododendrons, viburnums, flowering quince,
crabapple and cotoneaster.

Kevin

Hi Peter
Personally I would spray pretty anytime for lace bugs and I use confidor, it works well. Also works on a whole host of pests
Cheers RodM

Hey guys
Thanks for the replies, yes it does look like that poop. Didn't see any bugs so I'll do as you said Rodm . Gonna zap the little buggers
Cheers Peterb

Confidor treats azalea lace bug very effectively without harm to the plants. I have used it for this regularly.
Please try not to use confidor on plants at or near flowering. It does not harm the plants but moves to all parts of the plants and stays effective for some time. Bees visiting the flowers will take tiny amounts of the insecticide back to the hive and it can eventually kill entire beehives.

Most retailers are removing Confidor from sale because of its detrimental effect on bees. We need the bees to survive so they can pollinate the various vegetable crops on which we depend for our survival. any use of the chemical should be sparing.

Roger

I was at our local nursery yesterday and purchased Searles' Conguard garden insecticide active constituent 0.125 g/l Imidsacloprid for $16.90 which I was told was a replacement for the now withdrawn Confidor.
Regards Jan B

Searles Conguard has exactly the same active ingredient (imidacloprid) at the same concentration (0.125g/L) as Confidor. So while it is a replacement (different manufacturer), it has exactly the same issues attributed to Confidor.

The use of confidor and like products should be used with extreme care, particularly with pollinating insects. I won’t use it when plants in flower as advised. I’ve noticed, funnily enough, in my garden that the bees stay away from plants that I’ve just sprayed.
Cheers RodM

Hi everyone,

Several things come to mind:
1) Azalea Lace Bug spreads like wildfire. If you have several Azaleas, treat them all, whether they show symptoms or not. Even if they are in different parts of your garden, in-ground or not.,
2) Also treat Rhododendrons, of whatever size, and Pieris japonica. No exaggeration, I've observed the Azalea bug on all of those.
3) Prevention is better than Cure! Confidor is an excellent preventative. Here in Canberra I spray all Azaleas etc. twice a year, once in December and once in mid-to-late Summer. (Can't remember the exact time.) All of the treated plants are clean.
4) Plant shrubs that bees love! Like lavender and herbs. I found that they draw bees away from my Azaleas.

Below: an Azalea that is in flower now!

Good luck to all Aalea fans,

Lisa

Thanks for replies everyone, I'll make sure not to spray to close to flowering. Definitely going to spray my other azaleas
Cheers
Peterb