Question
my grandma has a willow tree in her yard, she noticed that it had a white substance on it, so she whipped it off and noticed holes under the white substance, after a little investigating i found that what made those holes were yellow belly spa suckers , the holes on willow look exactly the ones they make. But my grandma insists it is not a bird she has not seen or heard any by the tree. She believes its some sort of insect. please help me she loves her tree and wants to make sure its going to be ok. what would the white substance be?

Answer
Dear Amber, It definitely sounds like you have borers on this willow tree.  The white substance was probably sawdust, (willow has a white wood) and a bit of sap.  If you had yellow belly sapsuckers then they were there for the borers.  The birds only enlarge a hole already made by the borer in an effort to get him out and eat him.  You should either spray this tree with an insecticide that specifies borers, or since it is a willow and not an edible fruit tree, you could use a systemic insecticide (make sure it specifies borers).  There are several systemics available, but I'm not sure how well they do on borers.  I have heard that the best way to get rid of them is to poke them in their individual holes, but that sounds extremely tedious and difficult above a certain height.  I would probably use the Ferti-Lome Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar, and Leafminer spray.  Be sure to use according to the directions exactly, and spray the entire tree (as much as possible).  One additional note: Be very careful to avoid stressing this tree and since willows do like a lot of water, be sure to keep the plant well watered.  This has been a bad year and it is only June; places are either flooded or bone dry (It is VERY dry here in Texas).  Willows are extremely tough though so it should recover with no problems.  Be sure to keep me posted if you need additional help with this.  Good luck, Melissa