Yellow Fruits and Spiderweb

Sunny

Hi everyone, Here is a tree near my garage that at the moment is covered in yellow fruit. Before the fruit developed, the flowers on this tree seemed to be leaking some sort of sap and the wife was parking her car underneath the tree and her windscreen would be so covered in the sap overnight that you could not see through it.

She would put the washer then the wipers on and she swears it makes the best window cleaner ever. The windscreen has never been so clean she reckons.

That has stopped and now we have this yellow fruit all over the tree. The trunk, from ground to the tips of every branch is covered in fine spider web, like stocking. And in parts the leaves look a bit dodgy, covered in black.

Any ideas on what sort of tree it is and if I need to do something to get rid of the black on the leaves. I am worried it might be diseased or there may be some effect from the spider web.

As always, cheers in advance.

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Garry Brockley

Hi Sunny it looks like a Tuckeroo - Cupaniopsis Anarcardioides to me, dont worry about the spider webs they are just webs, however the fact that your wife parks under the tree may be comacting the roots and causing stress to that side of the tree. get a pofessional to look at the tree it will be worth the outlay in the end.

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Eric Frei

It's not often you'll see black sooty mould on that tree ( I agree with Galbee's ID). I assume there's no other tree canopy above it?

Maybe some other tree nearby but the tree shows signs of sap suckers. They're tiny little bugs, usually white, that sit on the leaves sucking sap and pooping out a sweet secretion called honeydew.

The honeydew makes an ideal environment for airborne fungal spores to stick to and grow in, that's the black sooty mould.

But the dripping stuff that works wonders on the windscreen is most likely poop.

Like I said, not often that species gets bugs, has a large tough leaf and is a native. I think is means something else is not right so best to have it checked.

You can get rid of the pooping bugs with sprays, drenches or even stem injections but the why should be solved.

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jmcg.insight.gardens

Seems to me that it also has a soft brown scale ( Order Hemiptera, Coccus hesperidum) problem, I have a potted Ficus benjamina that has the occasional scale problem with black sooty mould in conjunction.

This would certainly explain the sooty mould.

On leaves the scale appear flat. I would suspect if I'm right about the scale then ants are your problem.

Control them by using a household ant spray around the butt of the tree and a small area of soil around the base regularly. Then the natural enemies of scale should rid you of the problem. Remember that the dead scale can last some time on the tree, the usual sign of the infestation clearing is lack of sooty mould. From my observation scale is usually associated with dry conditions, so keep the water up to the tree for a while.

If you need to spray the best time to spray for scale is in summer. Recommended products include Maldison(50%) at the rate of 2ml per litre or follow the directions on the bottle. Remember to cover up with long sleeves and rubber gloves to keep the spray off your skin. A mask is also advised to not inhale the spray.


regards Julie.

Sunny

Thanks Galbee, it is certainly a Tuckeroo (love the name). The car parked under the tree is on a concrete driveway, which is about one and a half metres from the base of the tree.

Ekka...the tree is right next to a large Lilly Pilly, I have just trimmed branches back on the Lilly Pilly to give the Tuckeroo more room to spread out over the driveway. It is a really nice tree. Would I be able to see the sap suckers if they are on there. Can't wait to tell the missus about the poop!!!!! She has a great sense of humour and will think it pretty funny.

Julie..I did a walk around our house today and there are other trees with the black stuff on the leaves too, not the same trees but similar problem. we have really sandy soil, trees haven't been getting any water to speak of, except for the occasional drop of rain, not much of that lately though.

Would better pics of the leaves be any help in identifying the problem? Spraying will be difficult, it's a fairly big tree and the driveway is on about a 30 deg angle so getting up on a ladder will be tricky and dodgy. I took the pics from the roof of the garage.

BTW...10 years ago my son was playing a game of hide and seek and he climbed into the fork of this tree and when he was about to be found decided to leap out over the fence next to the tree, catching it with his feet and fell breaking both his arms...badly. regardless we still love the tree!!

Eric Frei

If you got a good magnifying glass you'd be surprised what you'd see on those leaves.

Sap suckers include scale, thing about trying to spray scale with pesticide is they have a hard protective shell, the common way to kill them buggers is to use hort oil or white oil, it coats them and they suffocate.

If the tree is too large to spray then you have 2 options, soil drench/injection or stem injection.

Problem you face here in Queensland is that from a legal perspective you cannot go "off label". So if a label says use on elm trees at bla bla rate and you think "that'll do me and I'll apply at that rate to a different species tree" you are in fact breaking the law.

If you read the labels of almost all insecticides you'll see that they are generally aimed a 2 markets.

1/ Agriculture
2/ Nursery/small ornamentals like roses and azaleas

Trees get the big miss unless of course it's forestry and then you'll see some aerial application rates for certain crops/forests.

When the lantana bug thing hit Brisbane Confidor was used to knock them down. From a legal perspective an "off label" permit had to obtained (can take 9 months to get one if you're lucky as no guarantees). I have attached a copy of the permit as a PDF so you get the idea. So basically whenever you look at the label of the product that's the rule book for it's use. Now that label is only for that pest on that particular tree.

Now I have also attached the research label of what went on for fiddlewood trees.

As you can see the tree care industry is way behind the 8 ball here, the larger companies like Bayer who produce products like Confidor, Silvashield etc haven't given us the label we need, it doesn't mean we dont know what works and how well as the research is out there just means from a red tape perspective our hands are a little tied. But then if you were to buy a bottle of Confidor and do your own thing who'd know I suppose.

Attached Files

	Confidor-QLD-PER8500-1.pdf (19.9 KB, 54 views)
	insecticide control fiddlewood trees lantana bug.pdf (132.3 KB, 27 views)

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jmcg.insight.gardens

Thanks Ekka a good save from a mistake I made in my last post here

I had edited my post and had wiped out pertinent information. The post should have read 'use maldison (50%) at the rate of 2ml per litre of water plus 10ml of white oil per litre of water.' I was of course using the standard reference: Judy McMaugh (1985) What Pest or Disease is That,page 201. Being aware of the 'off the label' concerns, I had no end of tricky conversations when recommending chemicals when I worked in retail nursery. It usually ended up "well I can't recommend this as its not registered for this use, but this is the one I use at home."


I read the Confidor label, And under the plant section on the label here in NSW it reads "Shrubs, plants and ornamental trees, including non-bearing and ornamental citrus" , surely it would embrace the Tuckeroo as it had been planted for an ornamental purpose?

See that's where it gets tricky, interpretation of wording can mean different things to different people.

Then I Googled it and on Bayers site the Label did not mention ornamental trees at all. So do they have different labels for different states?

Seems the laws in QLD are very strict, but the general public must be protected from use of Organophosphates etc that might harm their health. I must add that Confidor seems one of the safest chemicals on the market that I know of for general public use and also has the benefits of not targeting some beneficial insects. But please still cover up it is a chemical.


Sunny,

Tuckeroos are very tough trees, they seem to grow despite hardships, that's why they are often used by council's where paving leaves them with little water infiltration at all. But if you love the tree, please try to build up the soil with some organic matter and give them water if you can occasionally. A healthy tree has much more resistance to attack from insect damage.

regards Julie

Sunny

EKKA and Julie,

Thanks for all your advice. I do have a really good magnifying glass and I will get up on the roof tomorrow and see what I can see.

I will probably get myself a bottle of 'The Stuff' and see what happens. Understand that it is a chemical, and will treat it with due respect and recommendations as per manufactures instructions.

Also will start to treat the Tuckeroo to some organic compost and water...it's raining tonight so that's a start.

Cheers

Sunny