Can gnats hurt my trees ?

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2sequoyah Electric City, WA(Zone 5a) Oct 15, 2006

This is the strangest thing ... I've been noticing a lot of gnats flying around lately here in very dry eastern WA state where there's been no measurable rainfall for quite a while. Today I noticed with a shock a pile of what appeared to be gray ash at the base of my ash tree (no it's not a pun). Then I looked more closely at the tree and noticed that it was literally covered in these little flying no-seums, in some places coated so thickly you could't see the bark of the tree. In a few places really coated places I scraped them off with my fingernail and the bark actually seems to be a bit blistered underneath ....they are particulary bad on this one ash but are also congegrating on a nearby crabapple. What are these creatures, will they harm my trees, and what do I do to get rid of them ??? It is very strange, I've never seen anything like it. The trees are relatively young and healthy ....

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PrairieGirlZ5 Thornton, IL Oct 15, 2006

Call the county extension office immediately! Best not to take any chances.

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2sequoyah Electric City, WA(Zone 5a) Oct 17, 2006

I've since learned that this is probably a kind of aphid (?) that can show up in great numbers in the fall, especially when its been dry, and that they won't harm the trees and will disappear after the first good freeze! Thanks for your good advice .... actually, they have already begun to get fewer in numbers. It wa the wierdest thing though -

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