Apple tree with disease

[Steven P]

As side story to add to Peds - noticed a few years ago that ants were all over my apple tree (Well, technically Mrs Ps), was about to nuke them, but a google suggested the ants were after aphids on the tree.... nuke the ants and the aphids are munching away all happy... moral there, nature has a cure if you look for it, lady birds in your case. Note - if you catch some lady birds put them on the tree safe at night else they just fly away. At night they wake up hungry and just start eating there and then

[sime42]

Does look like wooly aphids. I suspect you will have a long tedious battle on your hands to eliminate them, even if you can enlist the help of an army of ladybirds.

 

I've used methylated spirits on mealy bugs plenty off times in the past, it's highly effective at cutting through the protective wooly stuff, which makes them so hard to get rid of. I've not tried it on Wooly aphids but it might work also as the wooly stuff looks quite similar. I'm not sure the scale of the tree but if it's reasonably small you could buy a litre or two of meths, (or similar:- ethanol, rubbing alcohol etc), and go at all the fluffy white crap with a small stiff paint brush. Repeat every few months until it doesn't come back. Just an idea.

 

 

[sime42]

4 minutes ago, Steven P said:

As side story to add to Peds - noticed a few years ago that ants were all over my apple tree (Well, technically Mrs Ps), was about to nuke them, but a google suggested the ants were after aphids on the tree.... nuke the ants and the aphids are munching away all happy... moral there, nature has a cure if you look for it, lady birds in your case. Note - if you catch some lady birds put them on the tree safe at night else they just fly away. At night they wake up hungry and just start eating there and then

 

I'd have to disagree with the mighty Google in this case SP. In my experience serious aphid infestations are always aided and abetted by ants. Always. The little buggers farm them rather than eating them. They eat the sugary stuff that they excrete, and nurture and protect the aphids from predators in return. A fascinating partnership, just not on my beans/apples/roses!

 

Not sure if ants also work with wooly aphids, probably.

 

 

[peds]

23 minutes ago, sime42 said:

The little buggers farm them rather than eating them. They eat the sugary stuff that they excrete, and nurture and protect the aphids from predators in return. A fascinating partnership, just not on my beans/apples/roses!

 

Solution: find a source for those honeypot ants, and have them farm your aphids. You can then eat the ants.

 

Honeypot ant - Wikipedia

EN.M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

 

Try not to let them escape into the wild, they might be invasive. 

But they sound delicious, so every cloud would have a silver lining. 

[Steven P]

Sneaky gits! But fascinating all the same.

 

An update 8 years later that we had a bumper crop this year so whatever they were doing was OK. Can't do Honeypot ant - suspect the west coast here isn't arid enough

[Peasgood]

Your wilted leaves look like fireblight to me but could be due to canker. Either way they are nothing to do with the aphids, woolly or otherwise.

Best thing for woolly aphids is to paint them with methylated spirits, it breaks down the wool (which is actually wax) and dessicates the aphid. Earwigs are what eat them rather than ladybirds and I have yet to see a woolly aphid population controlled by natural predators.

Ants in your trees are not good but not as bad as ants in your pants. As said, they farm and protect aphids but the non woolly sort.

[Rustington]

16 hours ago, sime42 said:

Does look like wooly aphids. I suspect you will have a long tedious battle on your hands to eliminate them, even if you can enlist the help of an army of ladybirds.

 

I've used methylated spirits on mealy bugs plenty off times in the past, it's highly effective at cutting through the protective wooly stuff, which makes them so hard to get rid of. I've not tried it on Wooly aphids but it might work also as the wooly stuff looks quite similar. I'm not sure the scale of the tree but if it's reasonably small you could buy a litre or two of meths, (or similar:- ethanol, rubbing alcohol etc), and go at all the fluffy white crap with a small stiff paint brush. Repeat every few months until it doesn't come back. Just an idea.

 

 

Seems like my best shot.

 

15 hours ago, Peasgood said:

Your wilted leaves look like fireblight to me but could be due to canker. Either way they are nothing to do with the aphids, woolly or otherwise.

Best thing for woolly aphids is to paint them with methylated spirits, it breaks down the wool (which is actually wax) and dessicates the aphid. Earwigs are what eat them rather than ladybirds and I have yet to see a woolly aphid population controlled by natural predators.

Ants in your trees are not good but not as bad as ants in your pants. As said, they farm and protect aphids but the non woolly sort.

The wilted leaves start by going a frosty white, then they wilt and dry out until they are dead. Only takes a couple of days I think.