insect

Tea scale is the most serious insect pest of flowering camellias. Tea scale also attacks hollies, citrus and the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) as well as a few other plants.

Who do you call when you need someone to prune a one hundred year old, one hundred and fifty foot tall oak tree that sits ten feet away from your house? Who do you call if your favorite 80-year-old pecan is starting to decline?
 

Tea scale is serious pest of camellias and certain other ornamental plants in Georgia. Scale insects pierce plant tissues and suck out juices which reduces the vitality of the plants. Heavy infestations result in unsightly plants, fewer and smaller blooms, twig dieback and possible plant death.

       Tea Scale on Camellia

The two-lined spittlebug is an increasingly common pest of Georgia turf grasses. It will feed on all turfgrasses, but it hits centipede turf especially hard.
 
     Two-lined spittlebug adult
     Photo: NC State

Twig girdlers are beetles that emerge from late September to October and girdle limbs from 6-18 mm in diameter. The cut encircles the twig and is seldom complete, leaving a jagged edge in the center upon breaking off. They also can remove large patches of bark while feeding. Preferred host trees are the pecan, hickory, persimmon, elms, and hackberry. If populations are high they attack oaks, and sometimes fruit trees.

It is important to correctly identify an insect as a termite. This way, you may be able to dismiss an insect that is not a termite. On the other hand, if you confirm the presence of termites, it is time to begin educating yourself on what to do next.

 
IS IT AN ANT? OR IS IT A TERMITE?

The Sago Palm has long been considered one of those perfect, easy-to-maintain plants for modern landscapes. Known as the Sago Palm, King Sago or Cycad, Cycas revoluta was one of the most abundant plants on earth during the days of the dinosaur – and it has changed little in appearance over the past 250 million years.

Crickets belong to the insect order Orthoptera, which also includes grasshoppers and katydids.
 
                           House Cricket

The azalea lacebug is a pest that gardeners in the South face nearly every year. As azaleas begin to bloom, the insect begins its lifecycle. By the end of the summer, gardeners find their azalea leaves covered with yellow speckles and the plants are stressed. This leads to reduced vigor and flowering the subsequent year is diminished.