AusBonsai

Having searched through the forums and the net, I'm still a little confused regarding the best treatment and preventative for Black Sooty Mold on pine bonsai.
I get that it's the honeydew secretions that cause the mold to grow after an infestation of pests but not sure if there's anything that should be done at this stage in late Spring.
I have a few pine including a very old Black, a Contorta and Mugo with signs of this and although not all over, there are signs that in some places, it has effected some buds to the point they're dying off rather than pushing through which is most annoying. I tried some soapy water to brush in with a toothbrush and wash off.. this is impossible on a pine imo and just damaged the needles and buds so gave up on this approach.
I can't find any sign of aphids of mealy bugs so suspect that they must have been prevalent over the Winter and early Spring. Strange as I'd been keeping a close eye on these pines and had never seen any sign of bugs for that matter. Anyway, would love to get some advice on preventative treatments - eg; is it worth spraying now and what would be the best pesticide - Confidor, Pyrethrum, Pest Oil...?
My thinking is that perhaps it should be yearly treatment, late Winter and early Spring to prevent infestation in the 1st place.
My mate uses a systematic pesticide by Richgrow on his deciduous trees. This is applied to the substrate and washed in which is taken up by the roots and have thought of using this although I really only want to use pesticides when I have to and not sure how effective this would be on evergreens.
Again, any advice would be appreciated..
thanks, Rob..

Hi Robsterios , mate I used to get yearly infestations of all sorts of bugs and treated everything with Rogor, confidor and pyrethrem . Over the last 3 years I have found Rose Shield to be the most effective on all the problems I had here . It is a systemic and a follow up treatment is usually applied 2 weeks after the initial treatment . I wouldn't hesitate to use it and anytime if an infestation of some sort was found , all my tree's including garden plants are sprayed and treated

I apply the shield in late winter before any flowering occurs and it seems to control all but 1 issue i have with a white woolly type aphid that infests a few pots , this may occur in the pots of pines , callistermon , elms and maples , half a dozen pots here were effected late winter however I haven't checked since the spray was applied , to busy or too slack .

Good luck with any treatment .

Cheers Alpineart