Any suggestions for dealing with oak aphids/whiteflies?

[tularetom]

We have a lot of oak trees around our house. Most of them are California Valley Oaks but there is one black oak in among them. Every summer we wind up with a sticky substance (called honeydew) secreted by aphids that have infested the leaves of the trees.

For several years I have treated te tree with a systemic insecticide. I apply it to the ground around the trunk in March just as the new leaves are beginning to appear on the tree and it's supposed to be carried up into the branches as the sap rises. It works until late summer, but by Labor Day we have the sticky stuff again.

I've talked to our county cooperative extension and they suggest applying the insecticide through holes augered into the ground around the base. I'll try that next spring but is there anything I can do to deal with this sticky goo now? I can hose everything down but will be sticky again tomorrow.

I don't want to take the tree down because it shades the rear of our house from the afternoon sun. But it's getting to be a real pain in the ass.

If anybody's experienced this and knows a workable solution I'd appreciate hearing about it.

[lapfog_1]

1. Ladybugs control the aphids in our garden.

I think they would work on Oak Trees.

edit to add link to place where you can order them

http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com/aphid-control-ladybugs.htm

[tularetom]

5. If I can figure out a way to get them up into the leaves

I'm gonna try it. THey're pricey but so is the insecticide I've been using.

Thanks for the suggestion.


I'll let you now if it works.

[opihimoimoi]

2. Perhaps, systemic treatment could be repeated 2x or 3x per Spring/Summer?

Or, go topical, using wettable sulphur, Safers soap, etc..a green solution...

Desperate answer, use chemicals found in malation, etc..

Tree height?

Apply with spray equipment....rent power sprayer(airless paint unit) or power washer and use solution for entire tree, top to bottom...use extensions if tree is taller than ground reach...

should take a few minutes depending on size of tree...

Good luck

[tularetom]

3. Spraying was the first thing we tried

but the tree is at least 60 feet tall with a canopy of 40 feet. It's a ginormous tree and there's no convenient vantage point to get all the branches.

But maybe I will break out my pressure washer and give it another shot if I can somehow get at it from the roof of the house.

I also plan to reapply the systemic stuff once more this summer, out of desperation. But I don't want to use too much of it because it's hella expensive. fter the sap stops rising it takes a long time to get up to the branches.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[opihimoimoi]

4. 60 feet!!!??? OMG...get a boom truck....better/faster than scaffolding

or, 28727346352527 aphid eating bugs...those lady bug creature suggested by above..

[truedelphi]

6. As lap_fog1 asuggests, lady bugs could be the answer

You can order them through local nurseries or internet nurseries (and they will arrive in small containers.)

The one thing that I did n't know about lady bugs is that they often will fly from your sick tree off to a neighbor's sick tree. The way to entice the lady bugs to staying with your tree is to spritz the leaves of your tree with a sugar water spray. They like that!

Also be sure you have not recently pesticided the tree before they are put to work on it. They will not do well if they encounter pesticides.