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Apple tree infestation

heath64heath64 Posts: 33
in Problem solving
My cooking apple tree has been infested by something and the branches are covered in lumps, white fluff and what appears to be  black spots/insects (see photos). Can anyone advise what it is and treatment. Thanks in advance.

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  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    edited February 2021
    It's woolly aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum), in a 'not very woolly' phase. They seem to me to like pruning cuts especially, but no doubt can make a start on uncut stem, and their sucking eventually causes the lumps and bumps that you see.

    Look them up for possible treatment. While I was looking, I came across https://gardening.which.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115000630689-Woolly-aphids which mentions a parasitic wasp predator of them, and says that the wasp "lives wild in southern England". Followed by "You can tell that this parasitic wasp is at work in your garden if the wool has been reduced, leaving a shiny, blue-black, naked aphid with a circular hole in its back through which the parasite has made its exit". On looking at your photo, those do seem to have holes in them, so maybe those are just the dead remains from last year, and with luck, there will be less around in the coming season.

    Looking at my own dormant apple, which normally has the aphid in summer, I can see no sign of it at the moment (apart from the lumps and bumps) - fairly typical for winter. So I reckon those in your photo are only still there because they're dead.


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