A Sticky Situation

[midwestcruiser]

Hello everyone, I'm from the NW suburbs of Chicago and for the last month or so, my neighborhood has been plagued with what I believe is an over abundance of sap from the trees. When I say over abundance, I mean it is so bad that if I were to wash my truck in the evening, it would be covered by the next morning to the point where there is a sticky film completely covering the truck. I'm not even parked under a tree! You can't see clearly through the windows, bugs stick to the surface and die because they can't free themselves, the windshield wipers stick to the windshield and even the ground is covered so badly that as you walk, your soles stick...just like at a movie theater where soda pop has been spilled. Back in the Spring, it wasn't this bad. With a setting Sun, you could see occasional droplets of sap falling, just like at the end of a rain shower.

Does anyone know why this is happening? I've lived here for eight years and this is the first time this has happened. Thanks for your help.

 

[RedlineIt]

What you've got there is an overabundance of aphids.

Aphids are tiny, really tiny soft bodied insects that have piercing mouths that suck sap from the trees leaves. Like any living creature, they then poop, and this is the sticky waste that you are dealing with. It's called Aphid Honeydew.

Infestations such as you're dealing with will end in days or weeks depending on the bugs life-cycle.

Infestations are also cyclical, after a huge one like you're experiencing, there may be little next year, year after, then mount up again to the point of being intolerable, but that might be three blocks over.

For immediate relief, spray as much of your trees as you can with a water hose. Knocks them down a bit if you can hit with pressure.

If your trees are bigger than you can hit with a hose, you may want a company to come in with a chemical spray. You may find companies who will release Aphid eating Ladybugs, cool if you want to be environmental, and they will eat Aphids for lunch like nothing else, but if your neighbor's trees have better lunch, they will follow their nature.

Lastly, however you deal with the Aphids, the leaves of your trees will still be covered in Honeydew. This makes them prone to sooty mold, which will make areas of the leaves turn black , but it's no big deal, as long as you don't have Aphid infestations year after year, which is rare.

RedlineIt

 

[midwestcruiser]

Wow, bug poop! Who knew? Thanks, RedlineIt, for the info. I Googled aphid honeydew and got a wealth of info, much of what you already provided. It does appear that the sticky mess has subsided a bit...I just don't want to go through this again.