COLUMN: Lantana's no longer carefree

With its beautiful spray of flowers all summer long, lantana has become one of our most popular perennials. Lantana flourishes in the heat; however, people are beginning to bring me ugly lantana samples caused by Lantana lacebug feeding.

Lantana lacebugs have been in our area for more than 10 years and will be a perpetual problem that must treated every year. Early diagnosis and treatment is essential since damaged leaves will remain on the plant all summer long. If you have white leafspots to bleached white leaves, you have Lantana lacebugs.

Lantana lacebugs are becoming widespread and most plantings are beginning to have problems. It starts out as just a few scattered white spots on a few leaves and progressively gets worse until some plantings have completely bleached leaves by the fall. What is happening is that these lacebugs are using their sucking mouthparts to remove plant sap, causing a bleaching of the leaves.

These lacebugs are fairly small but can be seen if you look on the underside of the leaves. They have lacey wings that sit flat on the leaf surface. They don’t readily fly and will crawl around on your fingers.

Believe it or not, these lacebugs were brought into Florida as a biological control of lantana. In fact, lantana has become a weed and has taken over large areas in Florida. Without frost, lantana continues to grow and flower all year long producing an overabundance of seed that are spread by animals such as birds. So they brought in the lacebug to help control the lantana. The only problem is, the lacebugs did not stop at the Florida border but has become established in South Carolina where we love lantana.

Many insecticides including insecticidal soap can be used to reduce lacebug numbers. If insecticidal soap or a non-systemic insecticide is used, the spray must be directed to the underside of the leaves to contact the insects directly. Personally, I like to use systemic insecticides (that penetrate the entire plant) which contain active ingredients like Acephate or Imidicloprid because it is hard to get the spray under all the leaves. Remember to read and follow all label directions because the label is the law.

Lantana lacebugs now join the group of other problem lacebugs including the azalea lacebug and the sycamore lacebug which also cause a bleaching-out of the foliage.

For more gardening information, you may visit our home and garden information center through our website, www.clemson.edu/hgic.

To learn the specifics on gardening, we also have both free and for-sale publications at our office in the back of the public services building on the corner of Third Loop Road and South Irby Street. You may also visit our Home & Garden Information Center through our website at The Clemson University Cooperative.

To learn more about decorating, gardening and country living, watch our Emmy Award-winning television program, Making-It-Grow (MIG). MIG can be seen at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays on regular ETV or on the web at www.mig.org.