Can anyone Identifythis pest?

[Jon Chown]

We have had a fiar bit of rain recently and I was looking around in my courtyard and I noticed this white stuff on my Boab. The more I looked the more I saw and as there were a lot of ants running up and down the branches, I assume it is some form of mealy bug (although not what I am used to seeing).

Boab.jpg

and a close up of the pest.

Pest close up.jpg

Any suggestions and what treatment would you recommend.

Your in Bonsai
Jon

[Steven]

Hi Jon,
Any chance on getting a closer and clearer shot? Macro if possible?
Nice looking garden you have there mate. I'd love to see a post with more pictures of your yard and benches!
Cheers,
Steven

[Jon Chown]

Best I can do - not being a photographer.

Insects macro.jpg

I hope that this helps. now I can see little crawleys - it looks like they are hatching

Yours in Bonsai
Jon

[Pup]

Jon it is Psyllids there are about 80 types . they attack a wide range of plant life Eucalyptus and related species.
Chemical control
Maldison or Dimethoate. I would suggest you encourage Bird life into your garden to control them.
I only use Chemicals as a last resort but I will if it looks like I am losing the battle. I cant use my usual siganture Jon you use it here. It is my skype any way hope this helps Pup

[FlyBri]

Gday Jon!

While I cannot provide a certain ID for your pest, I may be able to offer a positive prognosis. Mrs Fly works in a field known as Integrated Pest Management, in which good critters are used to control the bad critters in crops and so forth, so I've taken a leaf out of her book. I've highlighted a Green Lacewing in your photo.

Jon_Chown_Lacewing.jpg

The Green Lacewing is a predator species, and its larvae are voracious eaters (however, once they reach adulthood, they stop eating). Keep an lookout for Green Lacewing eggs in this tree and surrounds - once you get an eye for them, they are quite obvious. The Lacewing larva is a bit harder to detect, in that it will often place the empty husks of its prey onto its back as a kind of camouflage. In the case of your pest, the Lacewing larvae may appear very similar to your white fluff balls, but they will be quite fast as they search for more prey.

The ants will be feeding on the wax/sugar produced by the pests, and if they are present in big enough numbers, they will be protecting the pests from attack. My first course of action would be to rid your pot of ants by placing it into a tub of water with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid. Some will escape into the canopy of your tree (unless you can provide a bridge for them to the outside world), but the detergent should drown the bulk of them in their tunnels. Once the ant population is depleted, Mrs Fly suggests using an ant bait at soil level to prevent them re-entering the canopy.

Then it is simply a matter of waiting until the Lacewing numbers are great enough to rid you of your pest. Apparently, home garden kits of live Lacewings are commercially available.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Fly.

Super awesome post FlyBri!
+ 50 Tensuu
From AusBonsai

[Steven]

What a fantastic response Flybri!
That's what AusBonsai is all about... Iron sharpening iron to grow the art of bonsai in Australia!
Please pass on my thanks to Mrs. Fly also

Regards,
Steven

[anttal63]

well i'll be fly that is a very important piece of information! thanks for sharing. you da man!

[Jon Chown]

Well I'll be blown - I just filled in a reply to this and must have submitted at the same time as Anttal63 and poof it's gone.

Take 2

Thanks Fly for your awsome reply. You are quite correct about the speed of the little buggars, it was this movement that drew my attention to the situation in the first place. Unfortunately as the tree is a display tree in my courtyard - dunking in water is out of the question. I have sprinkled a liberal amount of ant dust around the base of the tree, I hope that this fixes the ant problem and I will wait to see what happens upstairs prior to resorting to a chemical fix. (that's for you Asus101).

Yours in Bonsai
Jon

[Hector Johnson]

Has this infestation of psyllids been cured yet, Jon? I was unaware of any psyllids that affected Brachychiton rupestris (Qld Narrow-leaf Bottle Tree).

[Jon Chown]

Hi Hector, The infestation was huge, almost all leaves were covered with a white cotton wool like substance (similar to mealy bug) and these little creatures hopping about. I sprayed the tree with a concoction of Mancozeb, Rogor and White Oil and the tree dropped every leaf and produced a flush of new growth in a matter of weeks - Infestation gone, Tree healthy as.

Jon

[Hector Johnson]

Good to hear, mate. I don't recall you mentioning that you had bugs. It's a nice specimen... too nice to lose that way.