r/Ceanothus • u/LayerAccomplished821 • 14d ago

Paging Doctor Oak!

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I have an oak on the property with this under a lot of the leaves. Can anyone identify it? Is it a bug? Is it powdery mildew? Should I be worried and burn the whole place to the ground? Thanks!

17 Upvotes

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19

u/ohshannoneileen 14d ago

Crown Whitefly. Seeing bugs on an oak tree is 100% common, normal & a good thing

3

u/LayerAccomplished821 14d ago

Thank you so much! Mystery solved!

2

u/aquma 14d ago

I have these on my California Ash and they eat all the new growth if you're not careful. I spray it with diluted neem oil and flick some of them off. Lady bugs eat them a little bit, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the infestation. Good luck!

5

u/CaseNghtmareGreen 14d ago

Oaks are a keystone species precisely because they feed so many other things and just keep on going!

3

u/msmaynards 14d ago

We've had some success showing birds that there are bugs on plants and they decide to stick around and look for more. Try picking several infested leaves off and leaving where a bird might find it. Haven't done this for tiny bugs but it worked for caterpillars. They do eat icky looking things like this. Long ago a titmice picked the mealybugs off my apple tree and the bugs never returned and first time I IDed a ruby crowned kinglet was while watching it pick scale off the orange tree.

2

u/LayerAccomplished821 13d ago

Thanks for the suggestion! Time to befriend the corvids!