Need Help - fine line holly with diseased leaves - see pictu

[raym]

I noticed this about two weeks ago.* This is in a 10 tall holly hedge and the leaves are turning brown with black lines or specs and the underneath is full of tiny yellowish stuff.* How do I treat this?* Thanks.

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[Newt]

Hi Ray,

It looks like whitefly.* Do they fly off when you touch the branch and then return?* Another possibility would be spider mites.* Put a piece of paper under a branch and tap the branch.* The spider mites will fall on the paper and will be little specks that move.

Newt

[raym]

OK, I tapped on the branch and held a dark paper underneath.* A lot of the small debris fell and about a half dozen small yellowish greeenish creatures were milling about.* One actually hopped off the paper like a flea.* They are about 1/16 inch long, maybe slighly larger, but for sure less than 1/8 inch long.*

How do I treat this to kill the bugs?* Thanks a million.

[Newt]

Ray, you are so very welcome.* Unfortunately I can't tell you what to spray with until we know what it is.* It would be useless to spray something and possibly cause more problems.* Know thine enemy.* When you mention that it jumped off I thought about a planthopper.* Does it look anything like any of these?
http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Take a look at the leaf here.* The pale yellowish bugs are aphids.* Did they look like these?
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/photogallery/acan2.jpg

By the way, where do you live?* Certain insects are more active in different regions at different times of the year depending on climate.

Newt

[raym]

Good Morning Newt, we are in Biloxi MS on the MS gulf coast.* We have a 40 foot long hedge about 9 or 10 foot tall madew of 8 fine line holly bushes.* These pests are only in one bush and have discolored an area of about 2 sq feet.* When I tapped or shook the limbs this morning less dropped on the paper.* We tried to take a picture but they are so small that it came out fuzzy.* They appear to be brownish grey rather than yellowish and smaller than I discribed earlier.*I was using outside spotlights last night so they looked yellow maybe. *Probably more like 1/32 inch.* They fly or hop for sure in addition to crawling around.* In the fuzzy picture you can see the shape and shadow.* They have muscular front legs and sit at an angle to the surface with their heads higher than the tail.* Any help or ore confusing?* Thanks Ray

[Newt]

I have looked at pictures of just about every pest known to hollies and my vision is blurred at this point.* I'm thinking those white specks are the pest, possibly a mealy bug, and the bug you see is the predator.* Take a look at this pirate bug, a good guy and a predator.* Is this what you see?* They are very tiny and you can click on the pics for a larger view.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/mi...irate_bug.html

Newt

[raym]

Here is a cleaner clearer picture of the bug.* Looks like a pirate to me.* The dust looks like dust to me, rather than a pest, but, I am the one needing help.* The infected area is growing daily so something is at work on the holly.* Less and less stuff falls off the leaves as try to identify the culprits.* See 2 new pics taken in sunlight just prior to noon.

[raym]

Newt, I used a magnifying glass and looked at the debris on the paper.* The smaller specks do not appear to have life.* They look like just fiber pieces or various sizes (all real small.* The bug in the picture is about 1/8 in long has folded back wings, antenna and folded back legs in the middle of the body.* Just a couple of bugs this time.** Thanks.

[raym]

I checked one more time and came up with two really really small yellowish looking critters that were crawling around on the paper.* I couldn't follow them with my magnifying glasss but they appeared to the almost circular in shape and about 1/4 the size or less of the pirate bug.* They looked kinda like a really small spider.* Nothing else is left to fall off the leaves when I shake them.

[thanrose]

The damage and the description make me think of thrips. Even the yellow itty bitty spider like things could be explained by thrips. If you google thrips for images, you* might be able to see one or two that have a yellow stage.

I also thought it possible that two different infestations are on the holly, with one being thrips and the other spider mites.