Lace Bugs Attack Hawaii’s Avocados

Jul 29, 2017 | General Information

Table of Contents
2
3
Some folks on the mainland may suddenly discover that they may have a lace bug problem in their flower garden. At first, it’s not easy to figure out because these garden pests are only about 1/8 of an inch long. Gardeners get out their trusty magnifying glass and, voila, see how these bugs got their name. Their transparent wings form a lacy shield over their square-shaped bodies.

In these flower gardens, the most likely victims of lace bugs tend to be azalea bushes growing in sunny spots. But lace bugs and their larvae could be feeding on almost any flowering plants and shrubs throughout the growing season. Their sharp mouthparts easily pierce plant foliage and suck out the juices from leaves.

The female lace bug inserts her eggs into the leaves of host plants so that a food source is immediately available to newly hatched larvae. These tiny larvae feed voraciously on the undersides of leaves right along with their hungry parents. After about six weeks, the larvae have matured into adult lace bugs which spawn several more generations of these pests throughout the season. Spraying with organic pesticides can kill both lace bug adults and larvae. Lace bugs also have a number of natural enemies. These lace bug predators, however, are an interesting option but difficult to find and keep happy in a bug-friendly garden that doesn’t use pesticides.

All of this information is simply intended to introduce the subject of a new avocado lace bug pest in Hawaii. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture recently announced that avocado lace bugs, first detected in Pearl City, Oahu, also are on the Big Island and on Maui. In fact avocado plants in retail outlets on Maui had to be destroyed. The avocado lace bug even was a topic at the annual Avocado Festival.

The avocado lace bug in Hawaii is not much different from the one that gardeners fight with on the mainland. No one knows yet how the avocado lace bug was introduced in Hawaii. The pest was in Florida in the early 1900s. From Florida it spread through the southeastern U.S. and into California. It also is found in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Portugal.

In all of these places the avocado lace bug feeds on the leaves of avocado plants and extracts nutrients from foliage, causing gradual destruction of the leaves. It does not feed on the fruit itself but causes green to yellowish blotches on the leaves. Heavily damaged leaves become dry, may curl, drop prematurely and that may cause a reduction in avocado yields. Hawaii’s Plant Pest Control Branch is doing its best to control and reduce infestations.