You're not going to be able to totally get rid of your bugs until you've had several hard freezes outside. The ones that are outside are going to get back in. The best you can hope for now is to keep the levels down. The fogger machine works because the bugs can't get away from it. When you coat the tops and bottoms of the leaves at the same time and all the surfaces on the bugs get coated with something that either penetrates their bodies or smothers them, it's just not good news for them. Of course you have to keep at it every few days because ones that are in egg stages still hatch and have to be killed too. No--I didn't get the cheapest fogger they had because I needed higher volume to fill my larger greenhouses. I didn't see what size your greenhouses are. Maybe a smaller one would work. Another plus is that you don't have to be in there at all while you fog, always good when working with chemicals. Your most infested plants, you should get them out of the greenhouse. If destroying them is not an option, cut them back, and pull all the leaves off of them and give them a dormant oil spray like for a fruit tree and then put them back. You need a good coverage with any spray, but especially a dormant oil spray. It works by smothering pests and eggs and it will damage soft stemmed plants, but it sounds like they're damaged anyway. It's a last resort option. Rotate your sprays, different brands of sprays work the same way. For example some attack the nervous system. If you use a spray that attacks the nervous system 3-4 times in a row, even if it's a different brand, then it'll quit working as the bugs adapt. I put a link on there for you to a chart, the chart starts on page 3 of the link. What I did was to print out the chart and then take it to my bug killers and look at the chemicals on the bug killers, then when you find what class they're in, write the class on it with a big magic marker number on the front. Then you rotate your sprays according to action and class. Use a calendar to schedule and rotate your sprays. Write down what you used, what strength you mixed it and what date. Insecticidal soap is a good one to use in between sprays if you can't remember what you used last time because it's not one they can get used to at all, but good coverage is the whole key, so therefore the fogger really helps. I've been doing this for a living now for 3-4 years and I had terrible trouble with bugs the first couple of years until I got the fogger and got my spray rotations happening. Yes, it will cause the humidity to go up, but you can always heat and vent it back out. Just don't water too much either. It sounds like you also have problems with high humidity, overcrowding and possibly overwatering. Good luck, and if you need any support, you can e-mail me, too. Here is a link that might be useful: insecticides modes of action

Hi Ken, I do know Bob as I used to be in the local Hosta Society here and so was he. Great idea to reach out to him. He is located about an hour from me. I think the report I got back was referring to 2 different planthopper nymphs, actually. The flatids are the ones I had, and they create the waxy substance that was on my scapes. The acanaloniid does not create the wax. Maybe I am confused? What I got after rereading their notes was references to multiple insects. I added a picture of the waxy substance for reference. "The samples contained several insects/arthropods. The most numerous (several specimens) were flatid planthopper nymphs (Flatidae). These create the large amounts of wax seen on the plant stems. The acanaloniid planthopper nymph is free-living and does not create the wax on the plant. There was also an unidentified pupal skin of a small moth (looks as though it did some feeding damage before pupating) and some silk with spider parts inside." I'm sure nobody is suggesting that I can completely eradicate the bad nematodes in my soil, but maybe the specific type that was a carrier for this unidentified virus will be reduced in that area enough so I can replant there in a couple of years. This hosta bed is an established bed, and Elvis Lives has been in that spot for at least 7 years, and possibly 8 years. The other hostas close by also have been there for a long time. I hope to reduce the chances of that virus spreading to my other plants.

You are correct, Steve, none of the systemic pesticides approved for home garden use list foliar nematodes on their labels. However, I did find several web sites that strongly suggested that using them on their hostas as well as other perennials for this problem would be an effective solution. And why not? Works for anything else that eats plants, including leaf miners and other insects that work on the insides of the plants where surface insecticides can't touch them. Yes, Bayer was recommended as well as the Ortho products, also DiSyston, but that one is intended for commercial use. People just have to remember that systemic products (Roundup included, tho it isn't an insecticide, it is systemic) can be absorbed into the skin of a human as well as a plant, and take precautions using them with protective clothing and gloves, even a mask. A little more care is needed with this class of pesticides than say, Sevin or pyrethrins. Sandy Sandy

Thanks everybody! Noticed a few posts were missing. I love hostas, and found recently that one has sprung up where I had one two years ago and moved it. Is that some kinda natural root division? Wow. When I first got started on the front of my house, it was nothing but weeds. No gutters, north facing.......After making some beds, my very first plants I put in were two hostas, still too much of a newbie to write down what kind they were, because one I wish I had because I am in love!!! It comes back huge, faithfully, every year, and although it doesn't bloom much, like another, the leaves are large, green, and lush. Really fills out that space on the side of the porch. As I bought a few more hostas, my only problems I could see were slugs and snails(very abundant in that environment). So, I set out some shallow dishes of beer to catch em. But, I'm learning that each hosta is different, and something is up other than heat and the slimy guys. Grasshoppers like to munch on them? Maybe they were just hiding out there. Saw some suspicious leaf spots (not sunburn or heat). Started thinking.... So thanks for all the advice, and links, and help. I started a garden journal this year, but haven't really focused on the hostas. Now I can, and as I learn, keep track of them also. Just assumed they were hardy and reliable, other than the slugs.... Anyway, thanks again!