The Wooly Aphid

Have seen quite a few of these around my back courtyard in recent times. They are ugly as you can find. Only just over 1mm in size,woolly aphids are a tiny burrowing insect with a protective white fluffy cottony covering. Severe infestations look as though there is cotton wool on the branches of the tree.They lay their eggs in the bark of the host and can reproduce quickly, and part of the life cycle is a winged insect allowing them to spread. They suck sap from young branches, buds, leaves, even roots, and can quickly weaken the tree.They also live below ground feeding on the roots.An infestation in rootstock beds is particularly damaging even disastrous.