Weird sacks on stems

12 years ago

Late last yr had N issues w/two myer lemons tress they were recovering beautifully then the gophers returned right in front of one, the grass around that area turned brown, & trees started going yellow had to replace one of them, removed gopher today my wife was weeding the yard and tiny brownish ants are covering the tree and observering them they appear to be doing nothing but walking up & down the tree & further inspection found these little sacks on 3-4 limbs what r they & how do I remove it & the ants we've tried bait traps of all brand granular spreads & even insecticides no help there all over neighborhood they extend 3-4 houses wide from the left of our house & 3-4 on the right can't seem to stop them used garlic spray on tomatoes and all their leaves are curling & drying up any ideas? I thought I might need to post this In clinic?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

vp_78
12 years ago
Well I know that ants can be a sign of aphids, which kind of look like what's in your photo, but I've never seen aphids like that!
BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
12 years ago
You have scale insects. They're lots of different kinds, but theyr'e all pretty similar, and you get rid of them the same way. Ants will farm them as well as aphids, so your treatment of the ants will help.
You can use Horticultural oil to control them. You should also use Neem oil or Spinosad to control the babies, called crawlers. Both are registered for organic gardening.
They may hatch from left eggs even after you kill the adults. By the way, even when they're dead they still stick to the tree, so to tell if they're dead the live ones will be juicy inside, the dead ones will be dry inside. So yeah, you gotta squish one to see.

Also, a link with more info, the link takes you to general citrus pests. You will see several links on the right hand side that will direct you to info about various scale. Since I can't tell from the pic which ones you have, they should cover it.
{{gwi:603617}}{{gwi:603620}}

Here is a link that might be useful: IPM UC Davis, Citrus Pests
Related Professionals
Fayetteville Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Davenport Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Potsdam Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Reno Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Rome Landscape Contractors · Indianapolis Landscape Contractors · Mesquite Landscape Contractors · Eureka Landscape Contractors · Olympia Landscape Contractors · Portsmouth Home Builders · Cookeville Home Builders · Beatrice Home Builders · Orange County Home Builders · San Diego Home Builders · Victorville Home Builders
BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
12 years ago
Also, I'd post your tomato issues in the Tomato Pest & Disease forum.

I don't know if you sprayed garlic for the ants or something else, but I am of the opinion garlic wouldn't really do anything for insect pests. If it did, garlic wouldn't ever get any pests itself, and yet garlic often gets aphids and thrips.

If you want to use organic products there are much more effective ones like Spinosad, Neem oil, Horticultural oils and Horticultural Insecticidal Soaps.

Btw, DO NOT use dish-washing detergent on plants, it can burn them and isn't good for the soil. I see lots of posts where folks use dish-washing detergent for pest control and it's not a good idea.
Hort soaps are SOAP, which are different from detergent. If one want's to use a home product for an insect soap, Ivory bar soap is pretty much the only true soap left on the cleaning market.
I'd just use a Nursery product such as Safer Insecticidal Soap.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Pests and Diseases forum