What are these insects on my tree (pics included)?

[MonJardin]

Hello,

I am very novice in gardening and I'd appreciate any help.

Can anyone please tell me what these insects are? I have just found one of the trees in my garden full of them! they weren't there a week or so ago. Are they dangerous? Will they kill the tree? What should I do please? I don't even know what kind of tree it is. Will they 'contaminate' the nearby trees and plants? What about washing? Will they be able to enter the house?

Thanks in advance for your help!

It looks a bit like a leaf beetle, we have noticed vast numbers of alder leaf beetle this year (we have an alder wood nearby) . Apparently they were thought to be extinct but them arrived in NW England, then Hampshire in 2014 and have spread like wildfire since. The larvae chomp holes the the leaves. This is the first year we''ve noticed them, I think being warm and dry they've absolutely multiplied! I just shook them off the washing (washing line is near the trees) and haven't seen any in the house.

@Ariela Thanks a lot for your post. Is there anything I could do to make them leave? Will they leave/ die eventually without any intervention on my part? Is the tree safe? Will they spread to the other trees?

@MonJardin

I have no idea, they're a new thing round here. I'm guessing the long dry spell had allowed them to breed/get well established this year.

The shape, particularly the pointed rear end, looks like black fly (an aphid). How hard are they? Beetles have hard wing cases over their back, aphids just have soft bodies.

That’s a Viburnum opulus. Always seems to have blackfly on it. Wait till they’ve gathered at the tips of the branches then nip the tips off and dispose of them. Or spray with soapy water.

I wonder if ants eat them, I know they eat some afids.

Ants 'farm' aphids, they collect honey dew from them and protect them from predictors, they will also move them around plant(s).

Hello @Ariela @dudsville @Ifailed @MereDintofPandiculation and thanks for your input.

Here's another pic. I googled it but still not sure which insect it is. Can anyone please confirm which one it is. Although they look like blackflies I am not sure. Also, is spraying them with soapy water effective in killing them and not harming the tree? how can I go about it? Should I buy one of these:

www.amazon.co.uk/ANSIO-Garden-Pressure-Sprayer-White/dp/B07CKM6QLX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?psc=1&crid=QSZOJSP3ZKN0&keywords=sprayers+for+gardening&sprefix=sprayer%2Caps%2C217&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFUVEFRMzVRTlA1NTUmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwNzE3NjgxNU1HWUw1WVVUOFpGJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMTYwNTczTkhCV1M5MlM0MjJQJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1650386213&sr=8-1-spons

Which kind of soap should I use and how much please?

Thanks so much for your help I really feel helpless.

Its not alder leaf beetle as those are navy blue and shiny, and endangered.

Yes, as PP said they're blackfly (aphids). Get used to seeing them, they're very common in gardens. You can ignore them and just know that you're feeding the bluetits and ladybirds (and it's fun to gently move ladybirds onto the plant and see them scoff the aphids, and then look put fir ladybirds larvae that look like teeny tiny dragons later). But if they're bothering you, then the least invasive way to get rid is a strong jet with a hose - which us also fun.

YABU

Now I'm on my laptop not phone I can see they're not shiny and not beetles, but do look just like aphids.
So ignore my comments earlier

@AppleButter @MyBottomDecides @Ariela

Hello and thanks for your help in identifying those insects. I have now bought Resolva Bug Killer and sprayed the tree. This is my first time using a pesticide. Hopefully I won't have to do it again.

Interestingly, I saw one lone leaf beetle on the patio and felt quite smug in being able to identify it! 😅

Might be worth having a think about what approach you want to take to gardening, as you get more into it. Using an insecticide spray on aphids is quite hardline, and continuing a zero tolerance approach will reduce the other wildlife you see in your garden quite considerably. It might be that you're most comfortable with this, and it's your garden and your call! But lots of help on here if you'd like to develop a more live and let live approach, and let your garden be a lovely space for you and your natural neighbours.

Using a pesticide is the best way of ensuring you need to use it again, as you will kill, not only the pest you are aiming at, but also ladybirds and other creatures that would have fed on them.

Aphids are easy to kill with soapy water, which is why bottom describes your approach as hardline.

If you have inherited a garden where a chemical heavy approach has been taken, it can take a year or two for the predators to build up in sufficient numbers to control the pests at a level where any damage is not disfiguring. But I’d recommend you to keep your nerve because it leads to a less labour intensive garden, aside from the wildlife benefits - more insects and in turn more birds.

Hello and thanks for your posts. I've actually been living in my current house for several years and have never ever used any pesticide, neither for bugs nor for weeds, in my garden, which BTW is full of insects and birds. I am very mindful about these things. The reason I decided to use a pesticide this time is that I started seeing the damage on the tree already and wanted something that I'd use once. I was careful to spray on the tree only. Also, I lost another tree because of caterpillars. Because it's chucked away where we don't go much we discovered the damage late and now the tree looks quite dead but there still are caterpillars. Please see picture attached. Any ideas what to do?

I'd guess that's box moth, they can make a massive mess. Is it a box plant? Small rounded evergreen leaves?

@MyBottomDecides yes it is 😔

I have box moth so they are all being pulled out. You have to spray every year and I don't do pesticides as got hogs, foxes, bats and the usual around.

Me too - 2 box bushes out the front have been reduced to shreds. My gardening philosophy is anything that can't cope here doesn't belong here - no fussy ornamental and things that need lots of inputs, and certainly no pesticides or special irrigation (apart from veg plots or establishing). Love the newts, frogs, hedgehogs and dragonflies that result abd the garden looks good if not terribly manicured! Out come the shredded boxes.