Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Wednesday - August 19, 2009
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Diseases and Disorders
Title: Webs on tree trunk, probably bark lice
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
webs on tree trunk and creeping up. See no spiders or worms. what could be. very fine, thick webANSWER:
This sounds like webs from barklice that are eating fungus and lichens on the bark of your tree. They aren't lice at all, but are insects in a group called Psocids. Although there are members of this group that are considered pests (e.g., booklice) the bark lice don't harm the tree—in fact, they are beneficial since they are cleaning up the bark. We had a question a while back about webbing on a iive oak in Austin. Here is the link to the answer where you can learn more about bark lice.More Diseases and Disorders Questions
Sticky sap (honeydew) on car
July 10, 2012 - MY CAR IS CONSTANTLY COVERED WITH STICKY SAP. I LIVE IN AN AREA WITH MANY COCONUT PALMS AND OTHER TREES. COULD THE SAP BLOW AROUND EVEN THOUGH I KEEP CHANGING THE PARKING?
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Failure to flourish of Trumpet Creeper in Leesburg VA
June 28, 2011 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants: Late last year I planted a trumpet creeper vine to grow on my fence and attract hummingbirds. It gets full sun, is in average soil and gets adequate water. I put a few daylilli...
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Cedar elm with brown leaves
August 12, 2011 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, We feel we may have limited time to save our beautiful Ceder Elm. We have many trees in our yard (Post Oaks and Cedar Elms) and have been told they are all between 50 - 75 year...
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Problems with Monterrey Oak in Austin
March 26, 2013 - We had a local tree service plant two Monterrey Oak trees on 4/2/2012. At the time we noticed that woodpeckers had had a field day on the trunk bark of both trees with the most damage being on the lar...
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Mexican oak and red oak not looking healthy
August 02, 2014 - I purchased a Mexican oak tree and I believe a red oak tree from your center about 1 year ago. Recently I've noticed that they don't look as healthy as they have been, and I just looked at the leave...
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