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Old 01-06-2014, 04:56 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
'Mike'[_4_] 'Mike'[_4_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jan 2009
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Default Weeping Willow problem

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...

On Sun, 1 Jun 2014 16:20:53 +0100, Davey
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 14:18:54 +0100
Chris Hogg wrote:

On Sun, 1 Jun 2014 13:09:29 +0100, Davey
wrote:

I'm not a gardener by nature, whereas my wife is, but our willow tree
has what looks like a load of dried sap coming out of a spot on the
trunk about 4 feet off the ground, forming a small solid waterfall
effect, and there are several ants crawling around it. The waterfall
is about 4 inches in height.

Maybe it's an internal ant nest? If so, is it bad for the tree, and
how to treat it if it is?
Otherwise, I can't find what it is, so any help welcome.

Is there a good website to ID such problems? All that I have looked
at haven't helped.



A picture might help diagnosis. Don't post it directly here but to a
picture-hosting site such as tinypic http://www.tinypic.com/ and then
post a link here.

I doubt there's an ants' nest in there. Sounds like some sort of
canker, possibly cytospora, and the ants are just feeding on the sap
weeping from the lesion. I don't think there's a cure.


Here are links to the same pictu
https://www.dropbox.com/s/28t4o3qeaf4xcae/IMG_7735.JPG
for 2.5MB,
or:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ik568txpg...led_Willow.JPG
for 0.9MB file.

Thanks for help.



I don't know what that white patch is. It's just possible it's some
sort of insect attack. It could be a mass of woolly aphid, in which
case a good insecticide spray should deal with them, although the waxy
coat can protect them. Alternatively, just blast them away with a
strong jet from a hose and repeat as necessary. See
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=724

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales
=================================================

We go along with Chris on the 'blast it with water'. We had a problem with
Aphids on a plum tree, a blast of water did the trick

Mike
South East coast of the Isle of Wight

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