Weird Fuzzy Ninja Bugs! Pics. Please Help! - Orchid Board

Cattleya17 · #1 07-01-2011, 10:45 AM

Hello all ive been bug free on any of my plants for quite some time i believe my last bug problem was about two years ago! well they are back and this time they are weird lol they are fuzzy like mealybugs but they jump like fleas!

i mean if you don't kill it before it jumps you wont see it again until it comes back. it jumps far and super fast. its also smart it sees you coming and starts moving away. Mealys dont runaway they stay put and let you kill them. its also got a different shape than mealy bugs. they dont appear in large numbers either, it's one here or one there but im seeing them more often.

Close Up:

For now im calling them the Fuzzy Ninjas! what are these things????

~Sam

Alyons · #2 07-01-2011, 12:06 PM

That looks and sounds like the nymph stage of a flatid planthopper. Since you say it jumps quickly I rule out wooly aphid.

RosieC · #3 07-01-2011, 12:08 PM

My first thought was Mealy bugs. I've never had them, but I remember them being talked about as being fuzzy and pics on Wikipedia seem to give the impression they could be similar to what you have.

Scroll down to the third and fourth picture on this link.
Mealybug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yours seems to have some fuzz, not as much as in the third pic, but more than in the fourth.

Cattleya17 · #4 07-01-2011, 03:35 PM

Thank you guys for getting back to me! Alyons you are dead on! i looked at the pictures of the Flatid planthopper and its exactly what i have! its the first time ive seen them in my life!!!! they are so fast! im not sure how to treat this problem? will insecticidal soap work? spray all plants that ive seen them on?

Rosie i really thought they were mealybugs too but then they started moving quickly and then jumping into the next dimension for all i know thats how fast they disappear its NUTZ!

Alyons · #5 07-01-2011, 03:47 PM

The nymph stage is pretty easy to get rid of.. insecticidal soap should do the trick. I've even just sprayed my plants down with water and it does a pretty good job.

Paul · #6 07-01-2011, 07:33 PM

That last pic was quite good. Definitely looks like most of the leafhopper nymphs I have seen except fuzzy as well.

nenella · #7 07-01-2011, 08:45 PM

Interesting thread, Thanks for posting. I've had mealy bugs but never seen or heard of these. Excellent photos too. I look forward to seeing what/how you do. Good luck!

RJSquirrel · #8 07-02-2011, 08:15 AM

yes thanks for the bug pictures

I grow inside and can see that I'm missing the bugs..every chance I get!!

Cattleya17 · #9 07-02-2011, 02:18 PM

Thanks guys!!! its funny because i saw leaf hoppers around my plants a few weeks ago and i wondered what they were doing! now i know they were leaving babies or something!!! it was the first time id ever seen leafhoppers any where near my orchids and cacti and i was quite surprised to see them

I have been spraying with my homemade insecticidal soap that so far kills
Ants, Spiders, Stink-bugs, Cucumber Beetles, aphids, Japanese beetles, fungus gnats, and now leafhoppers and their nymphs. so far I've only seen one and that was this morning and i got him too MWAHAHAHAHAhAha. haven't gotten a chance to test it on mealy bugs yet but so far so good.

Claire25 · #10 07-10-2011, 12:25 AM

So glad I saw this post. They can do quite a number on your plants...especially very succulent-leaved ones. I have several spots on one of my Brassavolas where the plant juices have literally been sucked out by these critters, causing black sunken areas. I'd thought they were just a particularly voracious species of mealybugs...now I know to smush the leafhopper adults when I see them to help reduce the number of these guys, too.

PS: I find it very satisfying to feed these, when I'm fast enough to squish them, to my Venus flytraps. Payback time!