Green lacewing larvae as pictured in your first image, are very distintive. I suspect that you have woolly aphids or adelgids or something else entirely.

I think you're right. Have looked at at photos of woolly aphids and that's them. It is said that they especially occur where apples and some other fruiting trees are in close proximity. They seem to only hurt small fruit trees. Put in two Golden Delicious this year. We have no other apples except many crab apples. I assume that is sufficient for attracting the aphids. And yes, the neighbor has a tall, sick elm on the border of our property.

Since I'd like to remain organic, would you or anyone suggest a predator, such as ladybugs? The spiders seem to be doing a good job, as I see many caught in their webs.

I'm not a believer in bringing in ladybugs from an outside source. If you have a bunch of the pests, I'd consider insecticidal soap applied directly to the insects. See if they've infested the fruit trees.

Commercial insecticidal soap is considered organic. The least you do, the more likely it is that beneficials will help out. That white fuzz protects these little creatures, though. Sometimes the insecticidal soap is called for.

Thanks for the reply. The woolly aphids seem to have almost gone away. Maybe its just a seasonal phenomena. Could you tell me why you're not in favor of bringing in ladybugs from an outside source? I assume it is concern about introducing disease. We used to have tons of them, but in recent years have seen next to none. There is no concentrated accumulation of the woolly aphids yet, so the spraying of insecticidal soap would have to be widespread, presumably harming other beneficial insects, like spiders, etc. Will not go on and on about this thread. Thanks!

Much of the stock of purchased ladybugs are Asian imports, which have been pushing our native species out and have become something of a household annoyance.

Wild harvesting of ladybugs can be damaging to the environment and native species. There are farm raised sources, but I think that they tend to be quite a bit more expensive.

Introduced ladybugs are very likely to take off for parts unknown upon release. If you have a large property, the more likely you are to see any benefit.

Yes about the woolly aphid issue being cyclical. I agree that it's the better choice to do nothing at this point.

You might want to consider a dormant season spray with a good horticultural oil. Oil applications can smother overwintering eggs.....a task much approved of amongst organic growers.

This is not a wooly aphid. Wooly aphids look different and have wings.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/293031

Ah, I see, Rhizo. I also misunderstood where this thread was headed. Thought you were indicating that the larva pictured was a wooly aphid. (Definitely not based on the head of the critter pictured ... those are the mandibles of a predator. And lacewing would also have been my guess based on those.)

This thread originated in 2015.