Native Plants

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Sunday - May 19, 2013

From: Naco, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Pests, Trees
Title: Problems with Arizona Ash from Naco AZ
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi Mr. Smarty.. Live in southeast corner of Az. My Az. Ash is diseased. Just noticed leaves are curled, (still green) and when I open the leaf it has a zillion little white, what look like mites or aphids..or specs of coarse ground salt. My trees are four years old and luckily the other one looks OK, so far. Help me out. What kind of spray or powder would you recommend? Thank you very much,

ANSWER:

This is most likely leaf-curl aphids infesting your Fraxinus velutina (Arizona ash). Here is a YouTube presentation on Ash leaf-curl aphids. Also,an article from Iowa State University Extension on Ash leaf-curl aphids. The important thing is to keep leaf litter picked up and properly disposed of in order to limit the spread of the beasties to your other ash trees.

From the Image Gallery

Arizona ash
Fraxinus velutina