treeman wrote:It's called Pine adelgid. Related to aphids and secretes a white waxy substace which protects it from water so you need to add a wetting agent to any of your favorite insecticides. It favours stressed trees lacking water or in too much shade or too crowded. In your case the tree is weak due to a lack of needles.
Also, it tends to slow/stop the growth of new buds I believe.
I had this once and it eventually killed my tree (in hindsight, I should've looked into it BEFORE the tree died).
I believe the recommended treatment was as Treeman has advised, but before you do, hit it with a mild jet of water (not too strong so you damage the plant, but strong enough to really annoy the crap out of whatever's there and loosen them up - a lot of the time I've managed to jet them right off).
Cheers,
Mo
There are many ways to do things, but only one "best" way.