Aphids on maple, is it sick?
 

We have a little maple that was a volunteer that we moved several years
ago, it grew beautifully. Last year we pruned it a bit to encourage some
branching, again it did beautifully. This year oneof the kids got kind of
wild and broke one of the main side shoots at the top "y" off, and we had to
re prune to lower what ought to be a new "y" as the tree got pretty
damaged... the whole thing is pretty young, only 5-6 years, maybe 1.5- 2"
main trunk at the base. After this last trauma, there is now aphids and
the leaves look a little sick, I am assuming that the tree got stressed and
is not happy. I can post photos if needed, any thoughts on helping it
recover? BTW, there are ants herding the aphids too.

thanks all

Penny S

Aphids on maple, is it sick?
 

The plant looks sick because the aphids are literally sucking the sap out of
the plant and not because of any other presumed "trauma".

The ants probably put the aphids on your plant.

You can use an insecticide to kill the aphids but since the plant is still
small, you can just as easily remove them by wiping them off the plant with
a sponge or cloth soaked in soapy water.

Getting rid of the ants is another problem.


Penny S. wrote in message
...
We have a little maple that was a volunteer that we moved several years
ago, it grew beautifully. Last year we pruned it a bit to encourage some
branching, again it did beautifully. This year oneof the kids got kind
of
wild and broke one of the main side shoots at the top "y" off, and we had
to
re prune to lower what ought to be a new "y" as the tree got pretty
damaged... the whole thing is pretty young, only 5-6 years, maybe 1.5- 2"
main trunk at the base. After this last trauma, there is now aphids and
the leaves look a little sick, I am assuming that the tree got stressed
and
is not happy. I can post photos if needed, any thoughts on helping it
recover? BTW, there are ants herding the aphids too.

thanks all

Penny S

Aphids on maple, is it sick?
 

we had to re prune to lower what ought to be a new "y" as the tree got
pretty damaged... the whole thing is pretty young, only 5-6 years,

You never want a y shaped fork on a tree. This is weak & will break in a storm.
Always prune so there is one main trunk & the branches are at right angles.

there is now aphids and the leaves look a little sick, I am assuming that
the tree got stressed and is not happy.

Feed it. You can get fertilizer sticks that you pound into the ground. Spray
for the aphids.

there are ants herding the aphids too

Not much you can do outdoors, as the insecticides for ants are very potent. If
you see anthills at a few noticeable locations, you can try using ant traps if
you can make sure the kids don't touch them. You can probably keep the ants &
aphids at bay by repeated spraying with a strong jet of water, if it doesn't
damage the tree.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Aphids on maple, is it sick?
 

On 27 May 2003 14:44:59 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

we had to re prune to lower what ought to be a new "y" as the tree got
pretty damaged... the whole thing is pretty young, only 5-6 years,

You never want a y shaped fork on a tree. This is weak & will break in a storm.
Always prune so there is one main trunk & the branches are at right angles.

there is now aphids and the leaves look a little sick, I am assuming that
the tree got stressed and is not happy.

Feed it. You can get fertilizer sticks that you pound into the ground. Spray
for the aphids.

Why do you suggest fertilizing (not "feeding")? This is only useful
if there is a nutrient deficiency (identifiable by soil testing) and
could cause more problems if there is a surplus of any given element.
If there is a deficiency, it would not have any effect on the presence
of ants or aphids.

Keith Babberney
ISA Certified Arborist
For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
For consumer info about tree care, visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.../consumer.html