Allotments 4 All

:-[
hello,
We have got a beech hedge and it is completely infested with aphids covered in white fluff.  The top of the leaves are also very sticky.  My question is, will this harm the beech?
I look forward to some advice.

Sounds like you have woolly beech aphids. Not much you can do to control it.

The RHS have a page about them.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0705/woollybeechaphid.asp

Hi Ceratonia,
That's definitely what it is!  We'll just have to live with it. 
Thanks for your answer.

If it is really a big problem, then you could try power spraying them off. Use a setting which does not harm the bark though.

I might try that.  We've got a tall copper beech hedge at the back of the garden and it looks like every leaf is affected so I'll have a go at washing the honey dew and the aphids off.   I'm amazed how quickly they've taken hold though, I'm sure they weren't there a week ago!

Don't do it on the leaves, you will knock them off!. It is only a useful thing to try on insects which are on the bark of the tree!!!!!!!!

Do you have trees around? They won't go far from cover, but tits will clear aphids up. Most likely you'll have an explosion of predatory insects before long, and things will settle down. That being said, if it continues, you need to look at the basic health of that hedge. Is there anything which could be making it vulnerable?

When I was a kid, we had a massive flowering cherry by the back door. It was covered with aphids every year; I think this was probably due to malnutrition in exhausted soil. Bit however curled the majority of the leaves were, the tree continued to flourish anyway.

:D
Hello Palustris, I was thinking more of a gentle-ish spray from above to wash the sticky from the top of the leaves.  But spraying the leaves off would sort the problem!

Hello Robert, we've lots of trees around, and plenty of birds.  The hedge at the front has just started getting infested, but i can see lots of ants clearing up the aphids there (unless they're just after the honeydew).  The hedge looks healthy enough, but that end of the garden gets very wet, and has been boggy for the last few weeks, maybe that has had an effect on the health of the plants?

We've got woolly aphids on the beech hedge too... they're mainly in the far corner which is shaded by trees, and a good bit danker than the rest of the hedge-run.

Nature's devices - and hungry predators - have free rein to balance out the little critters' population.

As long as there's no long term damage to the beeches we'll just have to let nature take its course.

I can imagine that they won't be happy with waterlogged roots; few plants are. Hopefully the situation will improve as the soil dries out.

I have roses on obelisks in the middle of the Partere veg beds on the allotments, the aphids always go for the developing rosebuds and the birds and ladybirds devour them in double quick time...
:)

That's exactly what I get; I might have aphids on the roses for a week or so now and then, but if so, they're just gone.