Weird bug disease on tree

ger vallely

Hi,hoping some of you guys might be able to help me out. I have a little droopy willow of sorts in my garden. It's about 7 years old and had been bushing out nicely.Only today we noticed that the leaves were being eaten,lots of holes in them On closer inspection I noticed that there were lots of tiny little black caterpillar lookalikes wriggling about on the leaves.Some of these guys were covered in teeny white stuff.(Sorry for the novice descriptions!) Loads of the leaves have bulges on them,the bulges seem to go through both sides of the leaves.I think this is where the caterpillar things are incubating,then the pop out and feed away.

I'm hoping to be able to attach some pictures,but I'm not holding out too much hope, my computer skills are far worse than my gardening skills,sorry!If the pictures do attach or if even from this description, would you wise folk have any clue as to the problem of even better any solution. I'd be so sad to chop this little guy down and it would be fantastic to find a non toxic method of dealing with it,thanks for your time.

Red Hare

I would cut out the affected branches. The tree looks very congested - try cutting out branches to thin it out and to let some light and air into the tree. Are you sure its a willow? It looks like a "weeping cotoneaster" to me. Does it have red berries in winter?

ger vallely

Hi Red Hare,no red berries on the tree ever.I was pretty sure it is a type of willow,it gets those fuzzy little buds in early spring,if that's any help. Yeah,I was thinking about cutting off the infected bits and burning them but there is loads. Though I guess it possibly is the only solution. Thanks.

Oldtree

Looks like a Kilmarnock grafted willow to me.
Looks like a scale insect in photo 1, round with fluffy stuff.
I wouldn't cut out the branches. The damage is probably only aesthetic damage, affecting the leaves only.
Is this a reinfection, are there more adult scale insects around the stem?
Do you have a close up photo of the insects and caterpillars?

Tannywanny

Oldtree wrote: »

Looks like a Kilmarnock grafted willow to me.
Looks like a scale insect in photo 1, round with fluffy stuff.
I wouldn't cut out the branches. The damage is probably only aesthetic damage, affecting the leaves only.
Is this a reinfection, are there more adult scale insects around the stem?
Do you have a close up photo of the insects and caterpillars?

I am a complete novice when it comes to gardening. Bought a Kilmarnock willow and it is settling in well. Some leaves have yellow spots on them like its being eaten. Would this be a similar issue? I have seen ants but no other bugs.

Oldtree

Tannywanny wrote: »

I am a complete novice when it comes to gardening. Bought a Kilmarnock willow and it is settling in well. Some leaves have yellow spots on them like its being eaten. Would this be a similar issue? I have seen ants but no other bugs.

If the tree looks generally healthy I wouldn't worry. Willows tend to get hit a bit here in Ireland during the summer, but if it is just the leaves then the plant should recover on its own.

Tannywanny

Oldtree wrote: »

If the tree looks generally healthy I wouldn't worry. Willows tend to get hit a bit here in Ireland during the summer, but if it is just the leaves then the plant should recover on its own.

Thanks for the info. Tree is doing great.

macraignil

The first photo posted does look like some sort of scale insect. The RHS website says there are 25 different types in the UK. They list a number of chemicals that might be effective but the insects are resistant to chemicals at some stages in their life cycle so this method might not work completely. They also list some parasitic wasps that can help control scale insects. There is a video of one of these parasitic wasps at;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqE1juJsb3c

The RHS page for information on this pest is available at:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=224

It sounds to me like cutting out branches in responce to leaf damage by the insects could do more harm than good. Getting some advice on pruning grafted willow would be helpfull. I would have believed winter when the tree sap has moved to the roots was the best time to shape deciduous trees.

Oldtree

mid winter is the optimum time to prune deciduous trees. The most important thing with grafts is to remove suckers - shoots from the root stock that will overtake and subdue the grafted variety.

Unless the tree is overrun I would hesitate to spray as the spray will kill all insects, not just the ones you want to get rid of. If it is overrun then a wash in winter may clear up the problem.

ger vallely

Guys, thank you all for the replies. By the sounds of the responses so far-I'd be best to leave it as is until winter. It is a grafted Kilmarnock Willow,that came back to me in a flash when I read it, thanks Oldtree!

Oldtree

the kilmarnock has a particular shape that it forms, I would hesitate to prune it at all. I rooted a kilmarnock cutting to see if it would grow and it did. I unfortunately wound the stem shoot around a stick to see if I could give the stem a bendy shape.... it's a bit bendy now and needs supporting all the time. oh well

ger vallely

Oldtree-would you reckon there is a chance of this spreading to other trees nearby? We have some Silver Birch and a lot of rose bushes near.So, leaving it be and hoping the winter will kill off these things is your advice? I hoe it pulls through,tis a small little thing but i'm very fond of it!

Oldtree

I think it will be fine. post a few photos again in a few weeks to see what is going on then.