Strange stuff on my strawberry plant

[Rosey]

My strawberry plant started to have some, uh, white specks a week ago. Some of them seem to be moving. Also, it seems to be harming my plant, because it is wilting.


Unfortunately, as some past viewers have seen, the pictures are not showing up. Post to this thread your email address and I will send them to you. You can't see them really clearly, sorry for that, but at least you can get a description of it.


Please help me get rid of them, it is now 2 weeks since its contamination date. Make sure the solution is organic and can be made easily at home. It has wilted so much that there are now only 25% of the leaves left.

[lottie dolly]

Hi,rosey,sounds like little bugs of some kind,try a water spray with a few drops of wash liquid in,use your fingers gently,to help them of,i cannot put a name to your bugs,but someone else will,or have a little google onwhat bugs attact strawbs,

[Two_Sheds]

Your link is "invalid" and I can't view it.

It sounds like greenfly though: the white specks will be dead skin that they shed as they moult.

Look underneath the leaves for the green specks, and squish them with your finger. Also, your strawberries should be outside. Too warm, and fed too much, they will grow soft foliage which is more susceptible to aphid attack

[Rosey]

No, it isn't greenfly, last time i checked. Also, most of the time it is kept outside. Also, the leaves that are infested with the moving white specks have this webby thing on them.

[Paulieb]

Could possibly be glasshouse whitefly. Search for an example picture on google images then look up the pest on the rhs website for how to treat it organically. A commericial grower might use a parasitic wasp for a big infestation but wouldn't be worth it for 1 strawberry.

They are a sap sucking insect which can weaken a plant and also excrete a sticky honeydew which encourages black mould which can hlock the pores on a leaf.

Iif the plants are inside putting them outside will help in the first instance and as its strawbs they'll be fine outside. Bit more difficult if it's a big tomato plant.

[rustylady]

Whereabouts are you Rosey? And how old are your strawberry plants?

[Two_Sheds]

the leaves that are infested with the moving white specks have this webby thing on them.

Ding dong: red spider mite

Strawberries should be outside

[Rosey]

Thanks, Two_Sheds. Those were exactly what I was talking about. But the problem is I always kept them outside.

I am in the Southern part of China where it is pretty warm here, lowest temperatures are about 5 °C. Maybe because of that it has triggered them and almost killed my strawberry plant.


Are there any other non-chemical ways that does not including releasing "Phytoseiulus persimilis" or other predatory mites into my plant? I am an amateur and the strawberry plant is all I have, because I live in an apartment complex.

[Two_Sheds]

I am in the Southern part of China

Ah, that will have a huge bearing on any advice we give you then. Could you edit your profile to show your location.