Small yellow/brown insects!!

[Dreamcast]

Hello all,

Trouble in the garden never ends!

Just gave water to one of my scots pine i collected some months ago, and as i was watering many small yellow/brown and a few black insects started to come crawling up from the soil, like they where avoiding the water, same even started to crawl up the trunk of the tree

The pine is planted in a substrate mix of kitty litter, gravel, clay pebbles and very little soil, also the root-ball still consists of much of the original soil, as i did not want to disturb the roots to much.

What are they and can they kill the tree? and how do i get rid of them?

I would guess a re-potting now to wash them and all the old soil out would just kill the tree....
Maybe something i can water with to kill them?

All input is most welcome!

 

[QuintinBonsai]

Sounds like you have an infestation of scale insects. They can be controlled with insecticidal soaps found in most garden centers. I had those little critters all over my JBPs, and then I tried this stuff. It's all organic, works great for almost any plant, and it takes care of most insect problems. And if this item is not sold in your country, then I'm sure they have something that is an equivalent.

 

[Bill S]

I don't think it's scale, it sounds like you made yourself some potential trouble. When you take an organic soil and stick it in bonsai soil the bonsai soil will dry out, and the organic soil in the middle will not, this make an inhospitible location for roots, dry and or wet, and most tree like neither.

The bugs are probably there to eat the decomposing material in the pot, I think your rootball is too wet.