Can anyone please tell me what the white ‘bloom’ is on my apple tree?

Posts

• Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906

  June 2019

  Hello Anitapots, its looks like a bad attack of mealy bugs. There is some useful information here on how to deal with them:

  http://howto.yellow.co.nz/home-garden/garden-and-outdoors/how-to-kill-mealy-bugs/

  
  

  
  
  

  Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  

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• Borderline Posts: 4,700

  June 2019 edited June 2019

  I think it's very likely woolly Aphids. Quite common at this time of year. You can brush them off using a stiff brush or something similar.

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• Anitapots Posts: 8

  June 2019

  Thank you Ladybird4 and Borderline! Hubby is brushing them as we speak and will check out the link. Cheers! 👍

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• Palustris Posts: 4,307

  June 2019

  You need to spray them with a soapy water before brushing. It helps dissolve the waxy coating on the critters and then they dehydrate.
  

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• Anitapots Posts: 8

  June 2019

  Thanks for that Palustris... they’ve been brushed off but will spray with soapy water presently. 👍

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• Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906

  June 2019

  Please try not to use soapy water as it is dangerous to the good beasties too.
  

  Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  

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• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  June 2019

  Hang some birdfeeders in or near the tree ... bluetits love them and so do longtailed tits ... we used to get families of longtailed tits all over a crabapple tree near our dining room window at a previous house during the winter ... they feasted on the little beasties hiding in the cracks in the bark.
  
  Fantastic to watch and almost worthwhile having the aphids in the tree 😉 
  

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Anitapots Posts: 8

  June 2019

  @Dovefromabove we rarely get tits in our garden, despite many feeders but I really liked your idea! We’re very much a ‘sparrows and wasps’ area. @Ladybird4 Thank you for that... we’ve just brushed the critters off and will look daily to check. I’ve liquid soaped my beans before now but it didn’t help. Will try companion planting next year.. did a bit with calendula this year but no effect. 

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