G'day,

The carpark where I work has a number of Bottlebrush trees, most of which
have a black sooty sort of a deposit on the trunk and branches ... almost
like someone has lit a fire under the tree.

I haven't seen any little critters, but from searching on the interwebnet
thingy, it seems the might have a bit of a scale infestation(?)

Any other suggestions as to what it might be, and what the right treatment
would be?

"Tonto_Goldstein" wrote in message
...
G'day,

The carpark where I work has a number of Bottlebrush trees, most of which
have a black sooty sort of a deposit on the trunk and branches ... almost
like someone has lit a fire under the tree.

I haven't seen any little critters, but from searching on the interwebnet
thingy, it seems the might have a bit of a scale infestation(?)

Any other suggestions as to what it might be, and what the right treatment
would be?




I remember having seen this on several natives at mum and dad's place, and
it was associated with scale infection. Whether the scale caused it, or
simply took advantage of an already sick tree, I'm not sure. Try treating it
with white oil.

In article ,
"Tonto_Goldstein" wrote:

I haven't seen any little critters, but from searching on the interwebnet
thingy, it seems the might have a bit of a scale infestation(?)

Any other suggestions as to what it might be, and what the right treatment
would be?

It's probably sooty mould, which IIRC can be caused by a scale infestation.
We have bottlebrushes planted as street trees, and most of them have it. You
could try a bit of pruning to let more light into the centre of the tree.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Chookie wrote:

In article ,
"Tonto_Goldstein" wrote:



I haven't seen any little critters, but from searching on the interwebnet
thingy, it seems the might have a bit of a scale infestation(?)

Any other suggestions as to what it might be, and what the right treatment
would be?



It's probably sooty mould, which IIRC can be caused by a scale infestation.
We have bottlebrushes planted as street trees, and most of them have it. You
could try a bit of pruning to let more light into the centre of the tree.



Ant "farm" scale insects, which they look after. Try some white oil. It
sufficates the scale. Also try and get rid of the ants.
An argentinian ant eater would be grouse, but we have to settle for
spiny ant eaters. Er hard to get. So poison ? Boiling water
Flood them ? Er even the local pest people are at a wits end. Nothing
seems to stop em.

g'dat tonto,

most likely going to becasued by infestations of either scale insect or
mealy bugs, most of those black sooy appearances caused by the sugary sweet
excrution the bugs put out and that is what the ants use as food so you
should see ants as well.

the only othe time i have seen black soot on trees is when they are right
beside a major road and they get stained by diesel air emissions. my money's
on the bugs.

len

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1/

snipped

"Jonno" wrote in message
u...
Chookie wrote:

In article ,
"Tonto_Goldstein" wrote:



I haven't seen any little critters, but from searching on the
interwebnet
thingy, it seems the might have a bit of a scale infestation(?)

Any other suggestions as to what it might be, and what the right
treatment
would be?



It's probably sooty mould, which IIRC can be caused by a scale
infestation.
We have bottlebrushes planted as street trees, and most of them have it.
You
could try a bit of pruning to let more light into the centre of the tree.



Ant "farm" scale insects, which they look after. Try some white oil. It
sufficates the scale. Also try and get rid of the ants.
An argentinian ant eater would be grouse, but we have to settle for
spiny ant eaters. Er hard to get. So poison ? Boiling water
Flood them ? Er even the local pest people are at a wits end. Nothing
seems to stop em.

Eventually we did on our bottle brush .. I kept bucketing soapy water from
the washing machine onto it and it has eventually come good. It helps that
its not too far from our laundry though.
Dunno if that helps the OP though

Amanda

g'day tonto,

there's a recipe on our page as well.

len

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1/
snipped