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Elm leaf cluster #753142

Asked May 31, 2021, 8:15 PM EDT

I have 2 Elm trees that have numerous of these leaf clusters. Do I need to treat this? How?

Monroe County Michigan

Expert Response

The white residue could be from scale insects. However, scale feeding does not necessarily cause leaves to appear curled. That is more common from a virus or after feeding by leafhoppers. 

I'll need a bit more information about the tree to better determine what is the issue. Do you have any photos of the entire elm tree? If not, could you provide a description of the tree's health (Is it missing leaves throughout the tree? Leaves yellowing?, anything else unusual) ?

David Lowenstein Replied June 01, 2021, 9:20 PM EDT

I can't attached these pictures to the on-line post, so I'm sending via email.

Attached are 2 additional pictures from my elm tree.  A neighbor mentioned aphids, so I did a treatment of soapy-cayenne spray on Tuesday.  The attached pictures are from Thursday.  On the "Zoom in" picture, the black spots are dead bodies and in the fuzzy white area are newly hatched bugs.  I think that my spray is working and that I should re-spray.  What do you think?


Thanks,  Michelle
On Monday, May 31, 2021, 08:15:34 PM EDT, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:



Dear Michelle,

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YOUR QUESTION #0023073:

Elm leaf cluster

I have 2 Elm trees that have numerous of these leaf clusters. Do I need to treat this? How?

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The Question Asker Replied June 04, 2021, 7:28 AM EDT

The pictures did not come through due to file size. Can you send to my email (<personal data hidden>)?

When you say soapy cayenne spray, do you mean a mixture of cayenne pepper and insecticidal soap or dishwashing soap? Insecticidal soap would be effective against aphids. Dishwashing soap is not an effective management tool against insects and can damage plants.

David Lowenstein Replied June 04, 2021, 11:33 AM EDT

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