What's going on with my tree? White spots, gooey secretions, leaves turning black, thousands of wasps/hornets

Question

I need to know what is wrong with, and how to fix, a dogwood tree.

It has white spots on the underside of branches which secrete a sticky substance that attracts thousands of wasps, hornets, and flies.

The leaves are turning dark as well as the cement around the trunk. I wish I could post a picture.

Any suggestions on how to cure the tree and get rid of the wasps/hornets would be appreciated. They are getting aggressive.

Answer 1

Its properly white fly larver i found the best thing is soap powder dissolved in warm water and spray on the leaves

Answer 2

Sounds like dogwood anthracnose, which is common with cornus florida or native dogwood.  You can treat it when it first appears but it's a lengthy and repetitive spraying process.  In a tree that's this far gone I'd recommend cutting it down.  If you like the look of a dogwood try cornus kousa, which is naturally resistant to anthracnose.

Answer 3

looks to me like an invasion of aphids or whitefly.... the black stuff is sooty mold , which comes after a lot of aphid p**p which is very sweet, hits the ground or leaves and sits there....like nectar, it is a favorite of wasps, hornets and bees.... take a leaf off that has those white spots and keep it handy for a bit and see if the white things walk around.....if so, it's aphids....

http://images.google.com/images?q=aphids...

whitefly...

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

anthracnose looks like this...

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

and you'd see branches dying....

if it's aphids or whitefly, look them up for how to fix....(at the top of those links, clik on 'WEB" for info sites...