Problem Identifier Unit Screen//v.w/ RR Template

Problem Identifier Unit Screen//v.w/ RR Template Woolly Aphids

Problem
The needles or trunk are covered with white, woolly masses. If the infestation is heavy, the tree appears to be covered with snow. Infested shoots may droop; the needles turn yellow and may die. Trees heavily infested for several years are usually stunted.

Analysis
(Pineus species)

These small (1/8 inch), soft-bodied insects are not true aphids, but they are closely related. The adults are always covered with dense white filaments of wax. When this substance is removed, the insects appear purplish or green. Some species of these woolly "aphids" spend part of their life on other types of evergreens, usually spruce, often producing galls on the branches. In early summer, the insects migrate to pines and suck sap from the needles. Other species spend their entire life on pines, feeding and reproducing on the trunks. Those species that spend the winter on other plants produce a generation in the fall that flies to the winter host.

Solution
Control with an insecticide containing acephate or malathion. Spray pines with infested trunks in late April; spray pines with infested needles in late June. Cover the tree thoroughly. Repeat the spray if the plant becomes reinfested.

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