plant problems

[reptilemama]

My chameleon's hibiscus plant has developed a problem with tons of tiny bugs all over it. There is a picture here. Anyone have any idea what they are, or how to get rid of them? I can't seem to find anything that quite matches this in my garden book. Help!

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[Ed_r]

kinda looks like aphids.
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[SteveP]

Aphids are usually green (or black) in color and plump. Not sure what these are, but it looks like quite an infestation. I would get some insecticidal soap (i.e., Safers) and blast the daylights out of it. Safers isn't toxic for humans (unless you drank a bunch, then it'd give you a belly ache), but I'm not sure how 'fatty salts of potassium', the active ingredient, may affect reptiles. I would suspect that once it's dry it wouldn't hurt them. It's a contact spray, that suffocates the insect by clogging their breathing pores. So if you miss a few it has no lasting affect to kill them. Anyway, that's one of your safest pesticides, but may require repeated sprays for such a heavy load.

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[LdyDrgn]

Moving this to the Chameleon forum out of Help Me [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[pincess_wy]

I agree with SteveP about the insecticidal soap; and I *may* be wrong, but I think those are whiteflies? Just my guess. Doesn't look like aphids, I'm sure it was hard to get a really good pic of those little bugs! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[reptilemama]

Thanks guys. Since I'll probably have to make a trip to the garden center for the insecticidal soap, maybe I'll take a leaf along and see what they think. Whatever they are, they sure multiply fast!

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