Insects & Diseases of Trees in North Texas

Spider mites cause damage to plants by sucking out cell contents. Major infestations can cause severe stress and defoliation.

Crapemyrtle bark scales can cause unsightly sooty mold on branches and leaves, reduce blooming, cause branch dieback, and reduce cold hardiness of affected plants.

Lacebugs damage plants by sucking photosynthetic fluids from the leaves. Affected trees are stressed and foliage appears dull and spotted with unsightly fecal deposits.

Woolly aphids are sucking pests that infest trees, usually in late summer. They leave a fuzzy white mess on the foliage, drip honeydew beneath the tree, and cause stress by feeding on photosynthetic fluids.

Bagworms create cocoons camouflaged by foliage of the infested tree. They emerge from the cocoons and feed on foliage, sometimes completely defoliating trees, and even causing death.

Soft scales infest many different types of trees. As parasites, they feed on the sap, robbing the tree of energy. Soft scales also produce honeydew that can be a nuisance.

Armored scales appear as white or brown specks on leaves. They feed on the tree and cause discoloration, dieback, or even death. Honeydew is not present with armored scales.

Most sawfly larvae appear once annually in late spring. They can completely defoliate large trees in a matter of days, causing significant stress and aesthetic damage to host trees.

Wood-boring insects cause major damage to trees by consuming the vascular tissue beneath the bark, reducing water and nutrient movement throughout the tree. They most commonly affect stressed trees, and often lead to tree death if left untreated.

Hypoxylon canker is a disease of stressed trees. It attacks trees with weakened immune systems and is often fatal. Proactively maintaining tree vigor is the best defense against Hypoxylon canker.

Anthracnose is a weather –influenced fungal disease of many species that can cause tree stress, defoliation, branch dieback, and unsightly appearance.

Leaf spots can be caused by a variety of pathogens. They are usually influenced by weather and lead to leaf drop and tree stress.

A white, cottony, fungal fruiting body is often present with cotton root rot. The fungus congests vascular tissue in the plants causing them to quickly dry out and die.

Rusts can be present on many types of plants and often require multiple species to complete their life cycle. They manifest themselves as rust colored spots, or pustules, on the leaves of infected trees.

Bacterial leaf scorch is a vascular infection that damages the water conducting tissue of the affected plant causing scorch to the leaf edges.

Seiridium canker is a fungal disease that affects cypresses and junipers in our area. Unfortunately, there are no available controls except to remove the infected material to reduce chances of spreading the infection.

Ganoderma is a fungus that attacks structural support roots of a tree. The presence of fruiting conks suggests that it has likely been active for a prolonged period. There is no treatment and infected trees should be examined for stability.

Fire blight is a bacterial infection that enters through flower buds in the spring. It is sometimes localized to the flowers but can spread throughout the tree.

Powdery mildew is a common fungus with spring rains and can affect buds, shoots, flowers, or leaves. Damaged tissues may be dwarfed, distorted, discolored, or drop from the tree.