What are these things on the bark?

[RPelz]

Hello,

I've lurked here on and off for a while to get info from chain saws to pruning and always found what I needed! Joined up just now because I'm really curious about what has been growing/forming on our two 'Liberty' Elms. The trees are about 10 yrs old and have been growing great. We recently noticed these odd things on the bark and we don't know if it is harmful (no ill effects noticed yet) or benign. Anyone have any ideas? The penny in the picture is to help give a perspective of their size. The second picture is a clump of leaves that look to be infested or something..caterpillars?

If more info is needed just let me know.

Thanks, Ron

p.s. First post here, hope the attachments show up...how do you make the pictures show up in the text?

 

[Ekka]

G'day mate, and welcome to AS

Looks like ya trees got a good dose of spring warmth aphid attack.

Those fuzzy white guys on the leaves are ...

WOOLY APHIDS are being found in elm and ash trees. These aphids feed in large numbers in a fairly concentrated area of the branch or tree. Generally, one will find the tip of a branch exhibiting curled, distorted leaves with an abundance of small, whitish insects on the leaves, especially on the curled undersides of the leaves. They feed by sucking plant sap but are generally not a serious problem. The easiest treatment is to simply prune off the infested branch tip and destroy it.

Control: Satisfactory control of the elm aphids may be achieved by pruning out and destroying the aphid-infested leaves. Control of the aphids can be achieved by applying insecticidal soap, malathion or diazinon just before bud break and again ten days to two weeks later.

And some links for ya, I'd be killing them guys with a drench or spray depending on the size of the tree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...ev=/images?q=aphids+on+elm&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...v=/images?q=aphids+on+elms&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=

 

[CaseyForrest]

Excellent advice there Ekka. Ill add you can make insecticidal soap with dish soap and water.

 

[Ekka]

Excellent advice there Ekka. Ill add you can make insecticidal soap with dish soap and water.

You get a darned education from Google! hahaha

When ever i have a hunch I just Google it, then cut and paste what some site says, there you go, secrets out now.:biggrinbounce2:

 

[Ekka]

You guys sure get some bugs and crud on your trees. Hideous stuff.

I've never seen infestations that bad.

Like why?

 

[RPelz]

Thanks for the help.

Ekka, Casey, TreeCo....

Thanks for the great info! Like I originally said, I've always found great info here and I didn't get let down!!!

I have a friend that's a professional tree guy (and real busy right now) so I'll ask him come over when he can to do what needs to be done. He may just tell me to do it as he's done in the past for other little stuff. At least I know I have a little time.

I've read here many times about mulching around the tree so maybe I'll re-do that but bigger since the tree has grown so much. I guess I can assume this would help with a soil drench treatment.

Thanks again, Ron