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Anyone else swarmed with those little white APHIDS flying around?

Chunkee

Chunkee

Lifer
Those fluffy, white critters floating around are plant-sucking insects known as Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphids, said Karen Vail, University of Tennessee associate professor of entomology, on Tuesday.
The insects were introduced into the United States in 1996 in Georgia, Vail said. It is unclear how they got there.

A year later, they were found in Alabama and detected in Tennessee in 2001, she said.

The critters are 2-2.5 mm long and come in six species, according to the University of Florida Department of Entomology and Nematology Web site.

The pests are keen on blackberry and sugarberry trees, Vail said.

The problem?

They produce large amounts of a sugary secretion called honeydew, which drips from the trees' leaves, according to an excerpt from "What's Happening?" written by Frank Hale of the UT entomology department.

A sooty mold grows from the honeydew and turns the tree black, he said. It does not harm the plant but if it drops on anything beneath the infested tree, such as a wooden deck, lawn furniture or children's toys, it covers the items with black mold, he said.

The critters build up during the spring and summer but become "quite evident" by late August and early September, Hale said.

Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphids can be controlled by the systemic insecticide, imidacloprid, he said.
 
I used to have a girl in one of my classes who was from east tenn. she said the bugs in central texas where way worse. I've never been to tennasee, but it seems logical since our bugs don't usually die during the winter.
 
Those fluffy, white critters floating around are plant-sucking insects known as Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphids, said Karen Vail, University of Tennessee associate professor of entomology, on Tuesday.
The insects were introduced into the United States in 1996 in Georgia, Vail said. It is unclear how they got there.

A year later, they were found in Alabama and detected in Tennessee in 2001, she said.

The critters are 2-2.5 mm long and come in six species, according to the University of Florida Department of Entomology and Nematology Web site.

The pests are keen on blackberry and sugarberry trees, Vail said.

The problem?

They produce large amounts of a sugary secretion called honeydew, which drips from the trees' leaves, according to an excerpt from "What's Happening?" written by Frank Hale of the UT entomology department.

A sooty mold grows from the honeydew and turns the tree black, he said. It does not harm the plant but if it drops on anything beneath the infested tree, such as a wooden deck, lawn furniture or children's toys, it covers the items with black mold, he said.

The critters build up during the spring and summer but become "quite evident" by late August and early September, Hale said.

Asian Woolly Hackberry Aphids can be controlled by the systemic insecticide, imidacloprid, he said.
 
Thanks for posting that. I work in Knoxville and it has been out of control the last few weeks. Those things are everywhere. I was wondering what in the heck they were.
 
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