Question
QUESTION: I live in the dallas area. The tree as subject is a male, about 5 years in ground. Yesterday I noticed areas with white residue. I wire brushed the area and underneath the spots was a black sticky substance. The areas appear as pea sized circles roughly even spaced and uniform. I sprayed a rose solution that is a multi-purpose spray. Additionally, I have a small smoke bush that had the same whitish areas and that bush is all but dead. Suggestions/advice are most welcome. Thanx in advance. HDR in Garland, Texas

ANSWER: Henry:
These objects may be a type of scale insect based on your description. Best to get a confirmation before electing to treat them.  A couple of ways to do this. Snip off a couple of twigs/leaves with these things attached and carry them by your local family garden center. Many times these folks may have seen these things before and can ID. You can also take and send me a closeup photo and I can give it a shot too.  Take a photo of the undisturbed object, review it on your computer to be sure it is in focus and crisp before you send. Take several and send the best one.

Regards
Steve

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QUESTION: Thanx for the reply Steve. I failed to mention that these areas are solely on the trunk portions of the tree. I have not seen these on any leaves or branches. I looked very close and there is no sign of insects, nothing moving. I have a few pics to send but will have to get my wife to do the computer part. Hope you can stick with me about this. Thanx again HDR.

ANSWER: Henry:
I'll be glad to do what i can. Again, be sure to get close and review your image to be sure it is in focus before sending.
Steve

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Steve,

I wanted you to know that I went to a nursery in Mesquite, Tx, re the problem with the chinese pistache tree. I took pictures and showed them to a guy at Calloway's. He quickly determined that the problem was a yellow bellied sap sucker. I thought you should know. I bought some tanglefoot grease(don't know proper name)and will apply it tomorrow. Also. Thank you for your response. My wife has yet to download the pictures onto the computer. BTW, I had made 35mm pictures and took those to the nursery. In the event you would like a few of these pics, just let me know and give me an address and I will send. Thanx again. HDR.

Answer
Henry:
Thanks for the information. We have that bird in our area also. We have a few folks each year that want to know what is making those shallow holes in the bark that are in a nice row that sometimes rings the trunk, in fact, there was some damage in the front yard of our office here in Little Rock. Here is a nice information bulletin at the website below that I have prepared. Since the file is a pdf format, you will need to have a free small program called Adobe Reader on your computer to read and print.

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-7561.pdf

Hope the Tanglefoot product works for you. It can be very messy and difficult to handle.

Regards
Steve