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Cotton like infestation with small green dots on my mint plants

DamhahDamhah Posts: 43
in Problem solving
Hello,

Kindly help with this, I had something similar on all my plants including my apple tree last year. Please help.



Posts

  • DamhahDamhah Posts: 43
    edited April 2018
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    Looks like aphids. You can blast them off with a spray of water from a hosepipe, or squish them off by hand (if you're not squeamish).

    I can't see any "cotton like stuff" ?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes I agree ... aphids (sometimes known as greenfly).  Blast them off with a hosepipe as Kitty says.  The mint will enjoy the added moisture.

    Otherwise, lovely healthy mint  :)  ... further forward than mine is.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DamhahDamhah Posts: 43
    Thank you both, will blast them now, this morning i wanted a few leaves for tea and saw them, i started to panic. Last year my apple plant had something similar, but it was more cottn like on the branches
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    When you're picking leaves for tea just give them a rinse under the kitchen tap to wash any off.

    The cotton stuff last year on your apple branches could have been scale insects. Post a pic if you see it again.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Mix a stong solution of Ecover washing up liquid in a spray bottle and spray it generously all over the aphids. The soap stops them respiring and they die. Repeat as necessary until they stop reappearing.

    Or put the plant next to the bird feeders if you have them and the birds waiting in the queue can have a snack while they wait.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DamhahDamhah Posts: 43
    edited April 2018
    see on this leaf, like hairy white cotton, I had it last year and it spreads

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    The tiny hairs that grow on the leaves of many plants are called trichomes.
    They are supposed to be there and are not a disease.
    They help the leaf to hold moisture and reduce UV rays from the sun amongst other things.
    They are part of a healthy plant

    If you had little brown shells that look like they are sitting on cotton wool on your apple tree, as said above, likely to be scale insects

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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