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How do I deal with this infestation?

BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
in Problem solving
My plum tree is absolutely covered in these white insects, I'm inexperienced and don't know what they are. The tree is also infested with green aphids. There are far too many of these insects for me to wipe away, there are hundreds of leaves and this has happened very fast. I was previously trying to remove the green aphids as they appeared, but they have taken over and it's insurmountable. What can I do about this?


Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Try giving the plant a good hard squirt with the hose. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    edited May 2023
    Are you sure the white ones are alive and not discarded aphid skin? 

    Boil some rhubarb leaves or garlic cloves for half an hour, cool, then spray the liquid on the aphids, that's if there're any left after hosing them down.
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Yep just checked and they are indeed discarded skins. I didn't know aphids did that! Hundreds of leaves are absolutely covered in the underside, there is simply no way I can hose off that many. Will the tree be ok? I won't be able to remove them. I will try, but it is futile.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Well at least it will remove some of the sticky stuff and all the white skins.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    edited May 2023
    I now hang these 1/2 coconut shells filled with fat on 'problem' trees and shrubs, at the start of the growing season to attract birds like blue tits. I used to try the hose method, but since i've started using the coconut shells, i hardly see an aphid as the birds scoff them all.
    Sunny Dundee
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Unfortunately that doesn't seem to have helped, I had coconut feeders across the fence behind it until the crows worked out how to remove them and dump them in the neighbours garden where there's a dog and small child. I saw a single blue tit once, I've mentioned in another thread about why our garden doesn't attract small birds (new build estate, opposite open fields, feeding station set up in the hedgerows by a neighbour, direct neighbours have no plants). The blue tits would never have to go elsewhere if they only knew this was sitting here!
  • NoryNory Posts: 7
    This happened to my plum tree recently, but unfortunately I didn't notice in time and they caused a lot of damage (picture below, and it got worse than that within days - nearly all the leaves were dead). It looks like your tree is still doing well at the moment, so best to try and get rid of at least some of the aphids, even if you can't remove 100%! Someone suggested spraying with water mixed with a tiny bit of washing up liquid - I don't know how effective that is, but might be worth a try. 


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