Re: CULT: fuzzy grey bugs

Hi Laurie, 

This mirrors my indoor growing experience, I thought they were aphids
but never bothered to kill them because the growing experiment because I
had too many irises and not enough lights.  I'm sure you can get a non
toxic pesticide to kill what ever they are.  I realize this has been of
little help to you.

What ever you do, make sure your Grolux bulbs (Is this what you're
using?) are as close as possible to your plants, otherwise they'll die.
Air circulation is equally important and possibly my greatest concern
for you is keep your 9 cats out of the area or you can surely kiss you
irises good bye.  Iris planters make excellent litter boxes, as I found
out one winter :-0

Good luck and keep us posted as to what happens to your hairy critters.

Happy New year
Chris

laurief wrote:
> 
> Hi Everybody,
> 
> This will no doubt demonstrate my lack of experience growing plants under
> lights, but I could use some help with an insect pest.  One of our
> wonderful list members sent me some leftover rhizomes just a few weeks
> past, and of course my only option was to pot them and attempt to
> overwinter them under lights in my basement.  They're doing beautifully
> so far ... except ... just now when I checked on them, I noticed a couple
> are suddenly covered with what look like tiny pieces of fuzzy, blue-grey
> lint.  I brushed the "lint" off one of the leaves just to realize they
> are actually tiny, fuzzy bugs!  What the heck are these things, and how
> do I get rid of them?  Interestingly, just yesterday I noticed several
> ladybugs (Asian beetles?) hanging out on the iris leaves and figured I
> could rely on them to eliminate any aphids that may hatch on the irises
> over winter.  Today the ladybugs are nowhere to be seen, but the fuzzy
> greys are coating several of the leaves.  Could these be ladybug larvae?
> If they are something I should be trying to get rid of, would soapy water
> be likely to do the trick?  I have far too many companion animals in the
> house to risk using any sort of toxic chemical pesticides.
> 
> Any insights or suggestions will be gratefully received.
> 
> Happy New Year, Everybody!
> 
> Laurie
> 
> -----------------
> laurief@paulbunyan.net
> http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
> http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisintro.html
> USDA zone 3b, AHS zone 4 - northern MN
> acidic clay soil
> 
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