?Fungus? that looks like roly ploys all over my maple

14 years ago

A fungus is killing the trees that I have in plants on my balcony. It killed my dogwood outright and has now moved to my japanese maple (sang kaku). It appears to be a fungus even though it looks like little roly polys all over the bark of the trees. Individually, they are easy to remove but they are everywhere. They attach to branch and leaves indiscriminately. The inchoate fungus is small, also in the shape of a half-sphere, and green. The mature fungus almost looks like an animal with a scaly brown "shell". Then eventually, it ruptures. When it does, it releases sticky white foam and the shell turns orange as it decomposes. What do I do? I've bought fungicide, assuming it's a fungus, but it seems to be having very little impact.

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Comments (4)

houzi
14 years ago
Dunno what 'roly polys' are but are you sure it's not scale insects?
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
14 years ago
Need photo.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
14 years ago
A photo would definitely help but I doubt what you are describing is any kind of fungus. First fungus is not "removable" in the common context (other than by pruning out) but an insect known as scale is. Scale - of which there are many kinds - is typically a hard-shelled sucking organism that if present in sufficient populations can cause the decline and often ultimately the death of infested plants.

Scale is not the easiest insect pest to control - those hard shell casings prevent contact with a lot of insecticides and/or predators so timing is key. Once you have identified the specific insect (by posting photos here or Googling) you can then research the correct timing during the lifecycle to apply an appropriate insecticide.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
14 years ago
Do a search for cottony maple scale to confirm that's what your tree is infested with. The usual treatment is an injection or soil drench with imidacloprid.

Al