Poplar Tree Diseased

[sredhot10]

I have a 150 Ft. Poplar in my backyard, and we love the tree! As the season change the leaves have started falling and have a what seems to be buldges on the stems of some of the leaves. When they are opened they are harvesting may white bugs.( They look like mini gnats.) What are they? How do you get rid of them?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Poplar are prone to many forms of canker, my first thought is a canker that is causing some fermenting and weeping that is atracting the bugs. But this is a SWAG.