Saturday, May 28, 2016

Insect Eggs on Okra?

We started some okra plants this spring. They germinated under the grow light system we have in the backroom. After the plants were about 3 weeks old, I noticed tiny clear balls collecting on the stems and leaf veins of the okra.

They were jelly-like in texture so I assumed some sort of insect had made its way into the house and laied eggs on the okra plants. It was only the okra that was effected. None of the nearby artichokes or pumpkin starts had any eggs.

Never-the=less, I separated the plants and moved them to the covered porch so if something did hatch it wouldn't be loose in our house or effect other seedlings. 

I assumed it had to be an okra-specific insect, the same way vine borers target pumpkin plants or asparagus beetle only congregate on asparagus plants.

After a Google search I was having a hard time identifying any insect that specifically targeted okra. Then someone in a gardening forum mentioned that she had something similar going on with her okra plants and that it turned out to be dried sap balls that the plant naturally excretes.

I changed my search to "okra sap" and found many examples and photographs of the same thing I was experiencing.

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