Azalea Lace Bug

Azalea Lace bugs are small soft bodied insects (3mm) with large lacy wings. All stages of the lace bugs cling to the underside of the leaf surfaces. As the bugs are so small they are usually not detected until damage is noticed on the leaves. The eggs of lace bugs over winter on the mid veins of leaves before hatching in spring. Lace bugs are attracted to a wide variety of ornamentals such as azaleas, rhododendrons, viburnums, flowering quince, crab apple and cotoneaster.

Lace bugs suck the juices from the leaf leaving white or yellow spots or marks on the upper surface. This will eventually give a silvery mottled appearance to the whole leaf if they are allowed to continue feeding. As the lace bugs feed, they also leave behind tiny black, hard varnish like droppings.