Sycamore lace bug, organic treatments to control it

Beautiful but deadly, the sycomore lace bug can kill a tree

The sycamore lace bug can potentially devastate all plane trees.

It is actually a stink bug that comes to “suck” the sap from the underside of leaves.

Symptoms of lace bug on plane trees

Leaves have tiny whitish spots that appear on the topside of each lace bug feeding siteWhitish and blackish blemishes appear and the leaves fall off. Spots are tiny but coalesce. They’re often grouped near leaf veins.

Tiny quarter-inch (3mm) bugs feed in clusters on the underside of leaves.

Solution to treat against the sycamore lace bug

Controlling lace bug isn't easy but it's possibleSpraying an insecticide is a well-known method and it is the most effective one.

But to protect our planet, there is a method that derives from organic gardening.

Simply pressure-spray the trunks and structural branches of your plane tree with rapeseed oil to dislodge and suffocate the insect pests.


Image credits (edits Gaspard Lorthiois):
Bugwood.org: Whitney Cranshaw, James Solomon
CC BY-SA 2.0: Gilles San Martin