#sooty beech mold

[drhoz]

#2546-2548 - Sooty Beech Scale, Sooty Beech Mold, and the Common European Yellowjacket

One of the features of the Antarctic Beech forests of New Zealand, particularly on the South Island, is the thick layer of what looks like black moss covering many of the trees. And the ground. And most of the plants in the understory.

The black moss is actually sooty mold, a complex combination of fungi from a variety of different Orders, thriving on the ludicrous amounts of honeydew pumped out by the Sooty Beech Scale Ultracoelostoma assimile. The white filaments sticking out of the mold in the first photo is the anal tube of the scale insects, the longest such tube of any insect. The insect is most abundant on Black Beech Nothofagus solandri (the black in the name is from the mold) and middle-aged trees may lose 80% of the sugars they make to them. Younger trees have smooth bark that doesn't offer safe nooks and crannies for the crawlers, and in mature trees the bark is too thick for the scale insects to drill through.

The honeydew is a keystone feature of the Nothofagus forests - birds, bats, reptiles and insects all feed on the honeydew. Some rely on it. There's at least two species of caterpillar that prey on the scale insects. And a beetle - the only one in its family - that feeds only on the sooty mold.

And then the wasps arrived.

Two species are the problem - Vespula vulgaris (see photo) and Vespula germanica. Both are now more common in the Nothofagus forests then they are anywhere else in the world, and by a horrifying degree. Not only are they getting a diet of pure rocket fuel for much of the year, they then denude the forest of invertebrate life to feed their larvae. By monopolising the honeydew supply they're starving the birds and other animals that need that food supply, especially since introduced mice, rats, and stoats are eating the fruit and seeds of the forest, or turning on the birds when they run out of mice.

St. Arnaud, Southern Alps, New Zealand

[quillofspirit]

Mirkwood Terrain Inspo

For the wonderful @sotwk, thank you for your suggestions 💚

Again, I couldn't find photos from mostly New Zealand, but I am quite happy with the result! This is a much older, and mature forest, with a hint of darkness it didn't have before.

From Top to Bottom, Left to Right

Twisted trunks by Craig Strahorn

Forest Reflection by Chloé Lam

River to Lake Town by Jeff Hitchcock

Mysterious Glen by Donald Gionnatti

Dried Stream by Mike Blank

Kahikatea Trees by Geoff McKay

Mossy branches by Matthew Smith

I wanna add, for headcanon purposes, that the Beech trees in Rotoroa are covered in black sooty mold that covers even the ferns. It helps the ecosystem (read about it, it's pretty cool!), but it looks a little scary and makes everything smell like vinegar.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Boogie Woogie Aphids

by John Wenzel

Aphids are usually small wingless insects that suck sap from plants, usually specializing on one kind of plant. Many species can reproduce rapidly by parthenogenesis, where females give live birth to daughters without mating. They can build up great numbers quickly, which is why aphids are often pests of crop plants. In late summer or early autumn, populations are about as large as they are going to get, and soon a generation of both male and females that has wings is produced. These will disperse and mate before winter comes. The winged females will lay eggs that last over winter to start the cycle again in the spring. In our area, one amusing species is the beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) that feeds on beech trees. The aphid produces from its abdomen profuse wax fibers that give it a woolly appearance. In the photo shown here, the aphid itself is just a small brown dot at one end of the white fluffy wax mass. The wax is essentially a shield, and a predator that bites into the woolly floss will come away with nothing but wax. These aphids have a defensive behavior of waving their abdomens and the wax shield when they are disturbed, as you can see in this video of dancing aphids. 

Because sap has far more sugar than nutrients, aphids need to get rid of the sugar by excreting it in the form of honeydew. Under a mass of aphids like that shown here, the honeydew will accumulate on the branches or the ground below the aphid colony and will attract flies, bees, wasps, and other insects seeking the sweet liquid. There is a black sooty mold (Scorius spongiosa) that grows only on the honeydew of beech aphids, and can build up a large mass. Neither the aphids nor the mold are detrimental to beech trees, so there is no need to try to exterminate either of them. If they are considered a nuisance by a homeowner, it is easy to wash the aphids off the branches with a hose.

John Wenzel is the Director at Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[pauladevin302]

How Do You Get Rid Of Wooly Aphids?

How Do You Get Rid Of Wooly Aphids?

video description: 24 oct 2011 readers ask how best to get rid of woolly aphids and how to prepare plants for the winter 20 nov 2015 my old cooking apple trees have an infestation of woolly aphids for the first time. The insecticides she recommends woolly aphids also secrete honeydew, which is difficult to remove. Htm url? Q webcache. How to get rid of mealy bugs (aka woolly aphids) on your plants how wooly aphids absolute pest control. How do i get rid of woolly aphids? Telegraph. Googleusercontent search. Here are twelve natural and organic ways to get rid of them enable your garden once mealy bugs or woolly aphids invade a plant garden, it's important start treating the affected plants as soon possibl 6 oct 2015 wooly mostly harmless. Hackberry woolly aphid management guidelines uc ipm. You can also prune out and destroy infested branches when feasible. However, they could cause a significant amount of damage to your yard and plants. You may need to get rid woolly aphids (subfamily eriosomatinae) are sucking insects that live on plant fluids and further minor damage can be caused by the honeydew secrete, which is difficult remove. Woolly aphid aftermath on apple tree grow your own magazine. Woolly aphid control how to get rid of woolly aphids. Identification and 19 aug 2014 aphids are some of the most destructive garden pests. When chemical control is deemed necessary, woolly aphid insecticide such as acephate (orthene) can be used to these pests 11 aug 2013. Woolly aphids description and control down garden services. Are they likely to be killed off during the winter? If not, how do i 28 oct 2014 woolly aphid is common on edible and ornamental apple trees, pyracantha cotoneaster horizontalis. How to get rid of aphids 12 organic methods that work. How to get rid of woolly aphids youtube. The techniques used to get rid of the mealy bugs range from various poisons several eco friendly home remedies in residential landscapes woolly aphids are common on elm, silver maple, ash, treatments can kill but distorted leaves will remain apple aphid is a sucking insect pest that weakens tree by feeding be damaged, and severe root infestations stunt or young trees 16 jan 2013 margaret sirl demonstrates how treat very serious problem caused wooly. Woolly aphids (subfamily eriosomatinae) are sucking insects that live on plant fluids and further minor damage can be caused by the honeydew woolly secrete, which is difficult to remove. Rid of woolly aphids. The insects are hidden under white this article is specific to woolly aphids which attack apple trees however the very same pests also pyracantha, beech and cotneaster. While the honeydew itself doesn't cause once mealy bugs or woolly aphids invade a plant garden, it's important to start treating affected plants and get rid of as soon possible. While the honeydew itself is not a problem, it forms substrate on which sooty mold can grow, woolly aphids could be to blame find out how deal with them, help this won't cure problem long

content source: http://www.infinititimepieces.com

[fridayweed]

Saw this mold on a beech tree today. Is it sooty mold from insect honeydew, or something else? http://ift.tt/2srgdRU #Weed #Cannabis #Marijuana #Ganja #tumblr http://ift.tt/2tJUsjW

[drhoz]

Day trip out for a swim in the river and a look at the New Zealand Honey Dew which is a sweet sap like liquid / honey produced by insects which reside in the Beech Trees of New Zealand. This makes an excellent Emergency Energey Source of Survival Food. Two species of beech tree inhabited by two species of honeydew insect (the sooty beech scales) from the Margarodidae family produce New Zealand's largest single exported honey crop. The beech trees are Black Beech (Nothofagus solandri) and Red Beech (N. fusca). The two insects are Ultracoelostoma assimileand U. brittini. U. brittini tends to inhabit the trunks and larger branches, while U. assimile is recorded (C.F.Morales) as favouring the upper branches and twigs, thus U.brittini is the insect most likely to be encountered by the casual observer wandering in the beech forests. The black colour of trees and plants with a honeydew source is due to the growth of a blackTubules from U.brittini with drops fo honeydew sooty mould (Capnodium fungus) on the surplus nectar exuding over the plant and sometimes even the ground. Particles of this fungus are typically found in honeydew being referred to as "honeydew elements" and are used as a part of the identification as honeydew. Droplets of nectar are highly visible to any observer visiting the beech forest, but bees are rarely seen collecting these. Mostly they are observed foraging on the bark and particularly at the base of the tubules extending from the scale insect buried under the bark.

[drhoz]

Just a little lesson about the New Zealand sooty beech scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile), the honeydew it produces, the sooty black fungus (Capnodium sp.) that grows on the honeydew, and the role that honeydew plays in the ecosystem of New Zealand beech forests. I also discuss how they are threatened by introduced common (Vespula vulgaris) and German (Vespula germanica) wasps. I'm a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Hamilton, New Zealand. My videos are a mix of music, and hiking the outdoors. Ceolskog is my folk metal / heavy metal / country rock (and some other genres) band. It is also the name given to this hiking and nature-themed YouTube channel. Ceol means music in Irish, and skog means forest Norwegian and Swedish. I don't have a Patreon, but if you're a regular viewer, and you want to support me some way, you can find my music on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Soundcloud, Amazon, and YouTube too (of course).

[drhoz]

#2394 - Nothofagus solandri - New Zealand Black Beech 

AKA Nothofagus solandri var. solandri or Fuscospora solandri.

An endemic evergreen tree growing to 27 m tall. Found on both the North and the South Island at low elevations up to the mountains. Widespread on ridges in inland Taranaki.

Black beech gets that name because of a sooty mold which covers the trunk and branches. I'll discuss that more when I get to the St. Arnaud section of the trip, where it's a vital part of the ecosystem.

Black beech is known to hybridise freely with mountain beech (Nothofagus cliffortioides) where the two species co-exist, although Mountain beech generally grows at higher elevations. It also hybridises with hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) to form the hybrid species Nothofagus × apiculata, and with red beech (Nothofagus fusca) to form the hybrid species Nothofagus × dubia.

Whangamōmona Saddle, Inland Taranaki, New Zealand