In need of someone more knowledgeable about pests than i am.
I have had a little red balls appearing on the soil surface of this plum for a while. After a quick google i thought they looked look cockroach poo, and i've seen the odd cockroach here and there on my benches so i put it from my mind.
Today i was noodling around the back garden and noticed the few here and there had become a more substantial pile and this made no sense to me in my previously assumed cause. I poked around the edge of the deadwood and found that the bark was flaking back so i got stuck in and found 5 of these guys hiding underneath. They certainly don't appear to be termites, and if they were this has been going on long enough i'd have no tree left by now.
They just seemed to like the safety of hiding under the bark whatever they are.
I've peeled all the old bark back to the live wood now, so there's nowhere to hide. In the photo below it is the dark red channel next to the white lime sulphured deadwood that they were in. I'll apply lime sulphur this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon to the area.
I've completely bare rooted the tree and put in fresh soil, and rinsed every single nook so
But they don't appear to have done any actual damage to the plant.
