Crepe Myrtle buggs

[crab apple]

Are these little white spots some sort of afids (bugs) or a fungus. Google seems unclear, calling it either, powdery mildew and so forth. seems likes buggs to me but iv'e sprayed them twice with 7 liquid with no results and once with Bio advanced insect disease & mite control again with no results. I was carfull to spray the underside of the leaves as well. I have some Neem oil but have been told it's too hot to use it now.

 

[KateM]

Do they fly off when you disturb the leaves? If, yes, they are white flies.

 

[crab apple]

They mostly stay put but I did just now for the first time see some crawl, so I guess that answeres that. Still not sure why the sprays didn't knock them out.

 

[KateM]

Not sure. Looks like plan has sooty mold which grown on sweet secretions of insects.
You can try to wash your myrtle with a hose. Not high pressure, but copious amount of water. Let it dry up and repeat insectisidal spray again.

 

[Toastmaster]

It's most likely aphids; super common for crape myrtles. I have 3 giant crape myrtles in my yard, as well as some seedlings that I've dug up, most of them have gotten aphids this summer. If you see ants crawling up and down the tree, that's usually a telltale sign as well (ants and aphids are best friends).

I've used dish soap and alcohol (make sure to do a test spot before full application), and various things to handle the aphids + ants. There's plenty of resources online you can check out to figure out what works for you.

Good luck!

 

[jradics]

Are these little white spots some sort of afids (bugs) or a fungus. Google seems unclear, calling it either, powdery mildew and so forth. seems likes buggs to me but iv'e sprayed them twice with 7 liquid with no results and once with Bio advanced insect disease & mite control again with no results. I was carfull to spray the underside of the leaves as well. I have some Neem oil but have been told it's too hot to use it now.View attachment 567438View attachment 567439

aphids suck the juice out of the leaves and secrete 'honeydew' whick then grows sooty mold. good thing is aphids are easy to kill and then the mold washes off