Pecan Leaf Phylloxera – Phylloxera notabilis

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Pecan Leaf Phylloxera (Phylloxera notabilis)

Latin Name: Phylloxera notabilis

Common Name: Pecan leaf phylloxera

Appearance:

  • Phylloxera galls are vulnerable to pecan phylloxera (pecan is a hickory species). Little insects resemble aphids (but without the cornicles) and range in color from cream to pale yellow.
  • Phylloxera has to suck mouthparts and is around a tenth to a fifth of an inch long. Their eating causes the tree to grow galls on injured leaves, stems, and nuts. Inside the galls, the phylloxera proliferates.
  • All phylloxera organisms survive the winter in the tree or orchard and feed on new shoots in the spring.

Host plants: Pecan trees

Territory: Throughout North America

Damage caused by Pecan leaf, phylloxera: 

Infections can severely injure and weaken limbs and impede the growth of new shoots. Leaf attacks can range from a few leaves to complete defoliation.

Description about trunk and branch borers:

Various types of insects can bore into tree trunks and branches as adults or larvae, generating sawdust or sap-filled holes and weakening trees. Only trees that have been stressed by incorrect watering or maintenance, illness, or mechanical harm may be effectively attacked by most borers. Invasive insect borers, on the other hand, damage healthy trees. When a tree is afflicted with borers, there’s usually little you can do but boost the tree’s vitality, cut off affected limbs, or eliminate the tree.

Life History and Habits:

Phylloxera overwinters in the egg stage on branches shielded from the elements. The little delicate aphid-like insects arrive in the spring, just as the buds begin to open. The insect inserts its beak into fresh leaf or terminal development, causing a gall to form around it. Within the gall, the insect grows and lays a significant number of eggs. These eggs hatch into young, who evolve into winged beings. The gall usually cracks apart in late May or early June, releasing the insects. Infestations can begin on a single tree and quickly spread to others. As long as there is new growth on the tree, there are numerous generations every year.