Sharpshooter’s egg masses benefit fuzzy
Question: I check all my plants weekly for possible problems. I noticed what appears to be some kind of white fuzzy things on my pear tree’s leaves. I didn’t want to mess with them in case they were from beneficial insects. I’ve searched online but can’t seem to find anything. Have you ever seen them before?
Yes, I have seen these white, fuzzy, cottony things on all sorts of plants, including herbs, citrus and vegetables.
These are not good guys, but they are also not terribly bad, either. You can wipe them off or spray with soap and water. I have posted pictures of this before on my blog, but I will repost it again. These are probably the egg masses of the sharpshooter insect.
Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.