Acer Campestre in strife

Bentreemin

Hello, this Acer Campestre was planted in a large container to establish some roots and grow out a bit in spring of last year.

4 weeks ago just as the buds started to extend, the tree got infested with a black scale or aphid which I mostly manually removed then sprayed with an insecticide - problem solved, the critters were gone.

2 weeks ago I decided to prune last years growth to encourage some back budding (late I know). Anyway within a few days the tree had patches
of this white substance mainly on the bark which spread to the buds quickly - mainly at the tips. I brushed this off with a soft toothbrush and warm water last weekend then sprayed with a fungicide, suspecting mildew, but the stuff has just "grown" back.

Unnaffected buds are just starting to open whilst the affected ones are struggling.

I've googled and searched and read everywhere for a disease matching this description and turned up nothing. It's not a mite and more than likely fungal. Can anyone shed any light on this and suggest a course of action to get rid please. Thanks in advance.

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rockm

That's because it's not a disease. Those are wooly adelgids or wooly aphids. They're insects. Brush them off as you see them. You can try a systemic, but some plants are very sensitive to some of those.

Bentreemin

Thanks Rockm. I did not suspect that these were wooly aphid as I expected aphid to be more visible as insects, like greenfly. I've never experienced woolys before so probably need to curb my assumptions :-)

I'll remove what I can manually and give it another blast of systemic, will post back how the tree gets on.

Joanie

Wouldn't insecticidal soap be an effective and safe alternative?

Joanie

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Bentreemin

Good point Joanie, I don't have much experience with bugs - when trees have had for instance scale or greenfly before I've usually sorted them out manually then blasted with a systemic afterwards as protection. I'll try your softer safer soap method and see where i get...thanks!

rockm

Insecticidal soap is ineffective against these things, the wooly covering sheds water and can be difficult to penetrate. I just squish them. They leave a pinkish sticky goo behind. Good luck

BONSAI_OUTLAW

The brand of systemic made by "fertiloam" is not harmful to acer campestre. I have used it on most of my acers in fact with no problems and it works well too.

Bentreemin

Rockm - pinkish goo, mmmmm, cant wait

BONSAI_OUTLAW - I never heard of that brand here in the UK but I do have a systemic that I know won't bother the tree.

Thanks to all for the help

Glider

Soapy water works fine on woolly aphids. The soap reduces the surface tension of the water so it doesn't 'bead', but envelops. It will saturate the wool on the aphids, block their spiracles and drown them (I use it all the time).

Field maples are quite tolerant of systemic insecticides (unlike elm) if you wish to go that way. Mine has never had a problem, at least with provado (vine weevil killer). But I tend to use more organic solutions to problems where I can.