Tree Diseases and Pests Treatments

Question

I recently received information from our lawn care company that our trees had various “infestations. ” He made it sound critical, but everything I have read indicates the issues are purely cosmetic.
We live in a suburban area surrounded by lots of trees. We have been here for 25 years and most of our trees are very well established.

What he said is our oaks are infested with mites and leaf hoppers (there are about 8 trees that exceed 40 feet), lilac is infected with powdery mildew, and the maple is infected with leaf spot and weevils. If he means the Japanese Maple, it is looking better this year than any previous year and it is still less than 4 ft high. If he means the sugar maple – well that tree is gargantuan and there is no way the whole tree can be treated; it is simply too tall. He said nothing about our boxwoods, burning bushes, forsythia, or barberry bushes.

I can’t help but think this guy is out for a good buck. Would you agree? Is there anything we could do without using a treatment company that would be effective? I remember my mother using soapy water on some plants to treat pests. . . would that work?

Answer 1

Both insecticidal soap sprays and Neem oil work well on a host of insect pests. Since Neem oil also doubles as a fungicide, this would also help treat the powdery mildew and leaf spots.