White ... something ... on young beech trees

[seedy2311]

Hi! We've got some young (about 3 years old) beech trees which we've just potted on for planting out at some point. Noticed today that there's an unpleasant white growth/mildew/aphid infection on all of them, but I can't identify it from books, or the web. Can anyone out there tell me what it is, please, and - more importantly - what on earth we can do to get rid of it. The trees have only just been potted on, so are in the unheated greenhouse (well ventilated) at the moment, to keep them out the vicious cold wind.

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[David Hare-Scott]

Possibly mealybug although I haven't seen it so long and fluffy before. If that is it you should be able to see individual bugs in amongst the fluff, they are flat and segmented like a tiny white slater. Sometimes they are very hard to see, often they hide right in the axil of the leaf even though the fluff goes further over the stem or leaf. I have had success killing it on house plants with metholated spirits applied with a cotton bud. I have no experience growing beech but I read that there is such a thing as the beech mealybug.

If you don't want to spray you could start with physically removing it with a mild soap and water and a small brush - an old toothbrush will do. If it comes back observe carefully where and how it grows.

David