Olive Tree Disease White Fluff
Woolly aphids get their name from the fluffy wax like substance which covers their bodies and serves as a deterrent to other predators.
Olive tree disease white fluff. If you have discovered a tree with a fluffy white cottony looking growth on it it s probably a colony of woolly aphids. This olive tree disease typically defoliates and kills the affected foliage. Over time plant death occurs. Keeping olive trees well fed and adequately watered is the best initial defence against pests and diseases since vigorous trees are better able to withstand attack and less likely to suffer long term damage.
Large plants can be hardy to around 15c and lower as long as the compost soil is well drained. Woolly aphid white fluffy like substance appearing on leaf axils and pruning cuts needs treating with an insecticide. Powdery mildew is a common disease that appears as a white powdery substance on a tree leaf surface. The powdery appearance comes from millions of tiny fungal spores which are spread in air currents to cause new infections.
Main symptoms lumpy swellings on the bark and in summer colonies of aphids covered in white fluff on the trunk and branches caused by a sap sucking insect aphid timing april october. The symptoms of white mold include leaf die off stem wilt and white fluffy growth on affected plant material. Powdery mildew attacks all kinds of landscape plants including trees. Mealybugs will commonly leave a white residue on a plant s leaves that resembles cotton.
Follow manufacturer s instructions for best application. A woolly aphid colony. This develops into sclerotia black hard pencil size structures on diseased plant parts. This residue is either the egg sacs of the mealybugs or the pests themselves.
You will find this residue mostly on the stems and leaves. This is honeydew and is secreted by the mealybugs. It can also attract ants. Olive knot olive knot is a bacterial disease that is spread by water and enters the tree through pruning cuts cracks or wounds on the tree.
Wilt olive tree verticillium dahliae the verticillium verticilosis or wilt olive tree is a disease caused by a soil fungus its treatment being very difficult. Once pests are identified ask garden centre staff to recommend suitable control products. At first glance you may mistake them for a fuzzy mold. The pathogens enter the tree through wounds or cracks on the bark.
Olive trees are surprisingly very hardy. Olive knot is caused by a bacterium pseudomonas syringae that triggers the growth of rough galls or swellings on branches and twigs. At present the use of varieties or resistant rootstocks is necessary to replant infected olive tree groves.