Spinach plants with insect eggs

CitizenKate 3/21/2016, 9:36 am

Here's something I found on some of my spinach plants recently. Anyone know what this is and what's the best way of removing them? Naturally, they would favor the newest growth on the plant.

Spinach plants with insect eggs 16032011

Spinach plants with insect eggs 16032011

Spinach plants with insect eggs 16032012

Spinach plants with insect eggs 16032013

CapeCoddess 3/21/2016, 11:19 am

Diatomaceous Earth might dry them out. What the heck are they?

CC

CitizenKate 3/21/2016, 11:44 am

I've been searching Google images for anything I can find like this, and there are a couple of possibilities:

Crown mites. This one recommends removing infested plants, but jeez, isn't there a way of treating that's a little less drastic?

or perhaps nothing at all.

Here's one other one that came up in my search for "spinach insect eggs":

spinach, eggs, ~~insect~~. (Ruled this one out early on. tongue

)

**Scorpio Rising** 3/21/2016, 4:14 pm

They look like eggs to me, are they moving? I agree, crown mites look right as far as the eggs go. Can you squirt them off with a squirt of water from a spray bottle? How about some Ivory soap in water and squirted at them? DE is a good thought too! Or hydrogen peroxide with water or rubbing alcohol might dry the little Twisted Evil

up!

**camprn** 3/21/2016, 9:29 pm

Insecticidal soap. Today, and every two days until all the eggs are hatched. Well, that's what I would do.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/21/2016, 9:52 pm

Camp, how do you make yours?

**camprn** 3/21/2016, 10:14 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Camp, how do you make yours?

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/homemade-soap-spray.htm

Make sure to use soap, not dish detergent.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/21/2016, 10:37 pm

Funny, because the link photo shows Dawn, which is a detergent! Versus Ivory, which in the bar form is actual soap! Lol

CitizenKate 3/21/2016, 11:28 pm

camprn wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Camp, how do you make yours?
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/homemade-soap-spray.htm

Make sure to use soap, not dish detergent.

Looks promising, I bookmarked this for very near future reference. In other words, first thing tomorrow! I may try a strong squirt of plain water first, just to see if that washes them off the leaves.

SR, the article differentiates between the dish soaps used in automatic dishwashers and other soaps. I think this means to avoid the stuff that goes in a dishwasher, but stuff like Dawn for hand-washing dishes is okay. Somebody correct me if I am mistaken.

Thanks for the replies!

**Scorpio Rising** 3/21/2016, 11:51 pm

As a former chemistry major, soap and detergent are very different things. But I get what you are saying Kate. Dish washer stuff has chlorine in it, so not good for anything else. Soap is soap though, and is not Dawn, Joy, Palmolive, etc. different animal.

CitizenKate 3/22/2016, 12:20 am

Ah - thanks for clarifying that. Will look for soaps to use in my remedy.

CapeCoddess 3/22/2016, 12:04 pm

CitizenKate wrote:I may try a strong squirt of plain water first, just to see if that washes them off the leaves.

If you do that what's to keep them from still hatching in the MM? I always wondered about doing that with aphids til I read that they won't climb back up. So how do they get on the plants in the first place???
thinking

**camprn** 3/22/2016, 2:10 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
CitizenKate wrote:I may try a strong squirt of plain water first, just to see if that washes them off the leaves.

If you do that what's to keep them from still hatching in the MM? I always wondered about doing that with aphids til I read that they won't climb back up. So how do they get on the plants in the first place???

This is why I recommend the repeat treatments, to the event of the eggs hatching over several days. You don't want to knock these pests down, you want to knock them out.

**AtlantaMarie** 3/22/2016, 7:09 pm

Kate, you might look at Dr. Bronner's Soaps. All natural, been around forEVER... Can get peppermint, which is a good ant deterrent, or eucalyptus, which bugs also don't like... They also have non-scented.

CitizenKate 3/22/2016, 11:24 pm

I squirted the objects off the leaves with water, and they exited easily. That stirred up a flurry of panicked activity from some tiny gnat-like insects - definitely not mites - that had been hanging out underneath the leaves. I'll post the photos I shot when I have time, but I'm a bit worn out at the moment.

**sanderson** 3/23/2016, 3:40 am

Sounds like White flies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefly

Spinach plants with insect eggs White_11

**camprn** 3/23/2016, 1:12 pm

03.23.2016

Yeah, white flies are are terribly annoying.

CitizenKate 3/23/2016, 11:06 pm

sanderson wrote:Sounds like White flies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefly

Hopefully not... the eggs I have/had were more transparent, and the adult insects I saw were black and very tiny. I'll try to get around to posting the photos soon, it's just been a crazy week.

**camprn** 3/24/2016, 7:09 am

CitizenKate wrote:
sanderson wrote:Sounds like White flies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefly
Hopefully not... the eggs I have/had were more transparent, and the adult insects I saw were black and very tiny. I'll try to get around to posting the photos soon, it's just been a crazy week.

It very well could be there is more than one pest present.

CitizenKate 3/24/2016, 9:40 am

Undoubtedly. I also saw a pretty healthy colony of pill bugs at the other end of the box, but they don't seem to be doing much harm at the moment. I will definitely be getting medieval on them when it's time to plant the green beans, because they absolutely love green bean sprouts.

Here are a couple of photos I shot of the little black insects I found near where the eggs were:

Spinach plants with insect eggs Parent10

Spinach plants with insect eggs Parent10

Spinach plants with insect eggs Parent11

This is about the size of most gnats I've seen - possibly a fungus gnat? In the photos it could almost pass for a mosquito, but these are definitely not mosquitoes.

If they are fungus gnats, I believe there may be a concern about the larva attacking the roots of the plants, but they also (like the pill bugs) consume decaying matter they find in the soil, so I guess it just depends on their cuisine preferences.

**camprn** 3/24/2016, 9:43 am

Having really healthy growing medium and plants will help limit the risk if insect damage.

CapeCoddess 3/24/2016, 11:10 am

Is that a fungus gnat? If so I believe there's a nematode that takes care of that.

CC

CapeCoddess 3/24/2016, 11:46 am

Nope, not a nematode but a mite:

http://www.biconet.com/biocontrol/hypoaspis.html

Gross, right?
hehe
CC

**Scorpio Rising** 3/24/2016, 9:56 pm

They really are gross.

CitizenKate 3/24/2016, 11:47 pm

I heard about these on the VoodoGarden channel on youtube. Sounds like a perfect solution, happy little guys that zap the enemy with surgical precision and are kind to the plants. I wonder what would happen to them if I treated the soil with DE to get rid of the pill bugs?

Sponsored content

Spinach plants with insect eggs

Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs

Re: Spinach plants with insect eggs


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.