DEAR NEIL: My husband made sure I read your column telling us never to top our crape myrtles. However, ours had aphids last summer, stopped growing and looks terrible. Short of digging it up, can ...

Aphids, shown here on crape myrtles, feed on sap and excrete tiny droplets of a sugary liquid called honeydew. This accumulates on the leaves and branches and provides food for a black fungus ...

Aphids are a huge problem because they reproduce rapidly Bob Morris In the eastern U.S., there is a special aphid, called the crape myrtle aphid, that causes problems only on crape myrtle.

Gardeners can count on most crape myrtles becoming infested with aphids that feed on the tips of new shoots. Crape myrtle aphids are yellowish-green, pear-shaped and about 1/16 inch in length.

Crape myrtles are common landscape plants. In today’s article, Gary Knox, a horticulture professor with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, answers common ...

Both crape myrtle aphids and crape myrtle bark scale insects secrete sticky honeydew residue as they feed. The honeydew drips onto all surfaces beneath the crape myrtles and the mold forms.

Both crape myrtle aphids and crape myrtle bark scale insects secrete sticky honeydew residue as they feed. The honeydew drips onto all surfaces beneath the crape myrtles.

Beyond that, your non-flowering crape myrtle also may be unrelated to any bug activity. Age of the plant, stresses such as extreme heat or drought, and a lack of sunlight are some other possibilities.

Let’s go over that again. If you have a crape myrtle trunk that was hurt badly by cold, you can usually get a great looking plant restored far faster simply by cutting it back to the ground and ...

Crape myrtle can be one of the most pest-free landscape plants. It is important to select cultivars with resistance to the few problems to which the plant is susceptible.As with any landscape ...

Both crape myrtle aphids and crape myrtle bark scale insects secrete sticky honeydew residue as they feed. The honeydew drips onto all surfaces beneath the crape myrtles.