Hi all,
I was just out watering my trees and I noticed some strange brown growths on one of my mesquite trees, and I have absolutely no idea what it is. It is different from the egg pods of praying mantis and I don't recall ever seeing them before.
I am attaching a photo, if anyone can tell me what it is, I would be very grateful.
Thanks!!!!
Dion :)
Definitely some sort of egg cluster, just not sure what critter it is.
Could be some sort of gall, even though it is not typical mesquite gall.
Weird! No idea what they are and will be interested in what you find out!
Ewwwwww (I'm no help)
Do they come easy off the plant ?
I did not attempt to remove them, so I don't know. I can try that next time I am out watering.
Do they come off easily from the branch ?
Do they come off easily from the branch or are they part of it ?
Dion,
Did you try to see if they come off easily from the branch or are they part of it ?
I think what Rodicap is trying to say is...do they come off easily?
Ok, I wrote an email to a master gardener at UofAZ and according to him they are "scaled insects" and they are bad guys. Since they were most heavily clustered at the ends of the branches, I cut off the majority of them and triple bagged them and disposed of them, however, there are still some lower down on the branches. He recommended getting something called "Paraffinic Oil Spray (like Hi-Yield dormant spray)", which is apparently something Home Depot has never heard of. So today I will be researching this to see if I can find some locally or have to order it online.
Regarding how easily they are removed, they actually come of fairly easily and leave behind a white sticky residue. I was planning to manually remove a good portion of them, however, I realized just a few minutes ago that the two mesquites closest to the infected tree are also infected and they are very tall, so I am going to have to resort to the spray with a ladder. *not fun*
Ok, I just found a photo and name that matches what I have on my trees. That should make it easier to find the proper treatment.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/269134/bgimage
