Rhododendron cicadas - fighting cicadas on azaleas properly

• What is a rhododendron cicada "> The real problem - is probably none
• Combat unnecessary
• Beware of lethal injection

Rhododendron cicadas are plant sucker, do not bite, do not scratch and do not sting, just suck a little juice, which the plant will fill up immediately. With the transmission of fungi / viruses it is also such a thing - the article tells you why rhododendron cicadas are no reason to be afraid.

Rhododendron cicadas suck on leaves and set up no visible (certainly not worth mentioning) damage, the topic of transmission of fungi / viruses also loses its differentiated view of his horror - a puffed up small animal, which is relatively harmless:

What is a rhododendron cicada?

The rhododendron cicada, Graphocephala fennahi or coccinea, is a pretty colorful dwarf cicada.

Cicadas are with more than 20, 000 species (Germany: 452) to the most species-rich insect families, produced by nature not without reason and without abandonment. A scientific publication by the University of Graz: "Cicadas - the insects of the 21st century" has just "discovered" cicadas because they play a significant ecological role in all grassland biotopes. Like aphids, they produce honeydew and feed beneficial insects, as well as plant vacuums providing constant fitness training (defense training) for ecosystems - sucking and transmitting viruses, fungi, bacteria is just as important to the fitness / resilience of a plant as playing in dirt for development of the child's immune system.

Tip: "Rhododendron cicada leaf damage" comes from all sorts of animals, the "bits" of the rhododendron cicada are tiny and usually not seen.

Where "cicadas leaf damage" are described, it is usually synonymous to confusion - which is well, there are only 2, 974 plant lice in Europe and determined even more animals that suck on leaves. The exact nature of the nipple but does not matter, in a healthy garden plant lice do no harm.

The real problem - is probably none

The rhododendron cicada is said to transmit the bud rot mushroom Pycnostysanus azaleae . However, media representatives are certain that rhododendron cicadas transmit bad viruses and must be fought (with products of the advertiser) necessarily.

This is not the case among scientists; a few years ago, researchers undertook a rhododendron park in Bremen and explored the correlations. In 2003, the results were presented:

• no link between rhododendron cicadas and bud rot
• Rhododendrons, which are severely affected by bud dying, are free from rhododendron cicadas
• Rhododendrons with many cicadas free of fungus
• Mushroom and cicada prefer different rhododendron varieties

Research in the park has shown that fungal infestation depends on other factors (dense growth, wet soil, incorrect nutrient supply) and that cicadas frolic on healthy, airy-growing rhododendrons that they do not harm.

Rhododendron cicadas like other plant sucker viruses can transmit, against the plant's defenses are not always sufficient. Above all, high-performance cultivars developed for intensive farming are affected by this: from the outset, too little defensive power, further weakened by monoculture cultivation - and no chance to develop strong defenses or antibodies against new viruses because those with toxic Chemistry be fought (which also weaken the plant host).

Combat unnecessary

You do not need to get into this cycle, but you can farm your garden naturally and cultivate sturdy plants, which cicadas provide just the fitness training that is needed in nature.

Strong Rhododendrons get along with rhododendron cicadas, weaklings can be supported until care faults are resolved and the plants are fortified.

• in rhododendron cicadas
  • during the flight time (June to October / November) hang up yellow boards
• with fungal attack
  • by removing all affected parts of the plant (dispose of the garden fern) and thoroughly bleaching.

Beware of lethal injection

There is no fungicide against the fungus, but there are chemical pesticides that kill rhododendron cicadas (and other useful small animals). The more progressive the gardener, the faster he is going to bring everything in line with a powerful syringe to clean up chemistry.

Seems to make it clear - progress is great, nobody wants to live as in the Middle Ages, but with the human species, the thing with progress often has a catch: man develops something, man uses it, simply because he can and often not from the slightest idea, what a harmful chaos it causes in an ecosystem. The catch gets bigger, the more profit goes before reason, meanwhile chemical substances are used, of which one knows exactly that they are poisonous.

There are two approved pesticides with fenpyroximate against cicadas. A poison that blocks mitochondrial electron transport in the respiratory chain, part of the energy metabolism of most living things. That's why Fenpyroximate is also "harmful to inhalation", otherwise it certifies the hazardous substance labeling: "Harmful", "Dangerous for the environment", "Causes serious eye irritation", "Very toxic to aquatic organisms" and finally "Avoid release to the environment" - sounds as if it would be best to do just that and leave the funds in the store.