I have been an Arborist for the past 25 years, if anyone has any questions regarding trees, I will do my best to answer them for you.

The non toxic way is to use a table spoon of vegetable oil and a squirt of liquid soap into a 1 gallon sprayer....shake well and spray.Be sure to spay the underside well. It's a big problem here in Pennsylvania as well.

It seems that what you have been doing is working so my advice would be to keep spraying and maybe buy some ladybugs,

if you can, and maybe they could keep them under some control.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources

DCNR RELEASES PREDATORY LADYBUGS TO COMBAT HEMLOCK WOOLLY ADELGID

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/newsre ... id0601.htm

Here some more info for you.

Tips for maintaining hemlocks and avoiding or decreasing hemlock woolly adelgid infestations:

Do not disturb shallow roots with heavy equipment or by digging or tilling;
Keep hemlocks well-watered (apply about 1 inch / week around drip line) during droughts;
Do not place a bird feeder amongst your hemlock trees in infested areas of the state. Birds can transport hemlock woolly adelgid crawlers to your trees.
Remove large, heavily infested trees that can act as reservoirs for uninfested trees.
Clip and burn heavily infested hemlock branches. If you can catch the infestation early enough, this may significantly slow the insect's spread and build-up.
Do not change the grade (slope of the land) near hemlocks, such as excavations or tree wells;
Do not change water runoff patterns around hemlocks. Simply moving a downspout or installing a patio can stress these trees;
Do NOT fertilize trees infested with hemlock woolly adelgid with nitrogen. Researchers have found five times as many hemlock woolly adelgids on nitrogen-fertilized trees, regardless of whether fertilization occurred at infestation or six months later. Once an infestation has been eradicated, fertilize hemlocks lightly with a balanced fertilizer, such as 5-10-5, late in the fall.
When applying lime or weed killers to lawn areas, keep them at least 10 feet away from the drip line (tips of outermost branches) of hemlock trees.

Spring of last year, I had a "big" problem with "Saw Fly" infestation on my 42 southern pine trees. I've babied these pines since I brought them up from southern Florida about twenty five years ago. I've never heard about a Saw Fly until last spring. May of last year I notice the pine needles on the trees were being eaten and little 1" long dark green with black stripes in millions on the trees. Within a week these worms consumed all the old growth needles. They didn't eat the new growth... which we are lucky, as the pines didn't die.

Remedy: I called a local tree surgeon, he mentioned to take liquid dish soap and vegetable oil and mix in a gallon of water, and spray the pines. Within hours I probably had several million worms dead on the ground. I've learn since all about this "Saw Fly" and how they operate. Hopefully this year I will be free of these pests.

I have to chuckle a little bit at the thought of loving a plain ole pine tree. Though I do love all trees...so don't get me wrong. But around here, it seems like all you see anymore is a pine, considering all the clear-cutting that goes on for the sake of weyerhauser. Pines grow really fast and are cheap, so we hardly have any other trees left in the south besides southern pines anymore.

My sister has about 20 hemlocks in her yard that form a natural fence of sorts; nothing on earth looks prettier than when they are covered with snow.

Where you live in the southern parts of the USA, lefty. There's a good chance you will see pines trees from your window. No matter if you live in SE New Mexico all the way to the southern tip of Florida, and in the eastern states, there are southern pine. The number one source for lumber.
Here on Kansas ranch, I probably have more pines than the entire state. If you find pines elsewhere, chances are the owners had them brought in. Kansas is noted for it's "Hedge Apple", aka Osage Orange, or thorny hedge... In your life time, you may have read or heard the name"hedge post." Believe me, the wood is like rock, and will dull a chainsaw chain in seconds. I also have several hundred of these horrible, worthless trees on the ranch. Would you like some? We also have oak trees... red oak, pin oak, water oak, and blackjack, white oak, and probably several other oak specie's that I am familiar with.

I'm in MS KF. As far as just looking out of my windows, most of what I see is pine. By a lucky stroke though, when this neighborhood was built in the early 70's, they left about 100 ft of woods between backyard neighbors, so I actually do have a few different trees around me than I am used to. I have a ton of cottonwoods directly between myself and the people behind me. When they are in "bloom" I call it "MS Snow"! In my yard I have a magnolia, 2 oak trees, a maple of some sort and a tree we've never been able to figure out...

But you are right, I have driven through Kansas and I guess I cannot say I was blown away by the vast forests I saw there. Mostly I saw fields. How big is your ranch? It must be nice to have your own wind break created with your own trees.

Edit: We call those Osage Oranges "horse apples" around here. No idea why, but I looked for a picture and sure enough, that's what we call them...

No doubt in your area and the surrounding states, there are termites. These little wonderful engineers...or not, are noted for destroying homes from the ground up.
Now here is a known fact, those "horse apples" you call them are the best remedy for termites. Yes!. don't let a termite control person tell you different, the "hedge apple"... those green fruit that grow to the size of softballs will take care of termites.
When they fall from the tree in early October..or sooner, just take thirty or so, and if you have a crawl space under the home, throw these under the home. There's no oder from them...that I know of... maybe my smeller is bad.

I mow ten acres of the 2080 acres with a John Deere rider, and with twelve Osage Orange trees in my mowing area, there are probably 1200 "horse apples" as you call them fall from these trees. I can spend a week picking these dudes and moving them to a area where I don't mow. I should save them and setup a business for "sure termite" killers. Or would it be worth to sell these on ebay... ten for $25.00 plus shipping?

Thank you for the info on hedge-apples and termites. I learned something new.
Another thing hedge-apples are good for is the elimination of roaches. I don't think they kill roaches but the bugs will not stay where their are hedge apples.
We moved into an old farm house that was infested with fleas and roaches. My mother said to collect hedge apples and place them all around the basement and around any electrical appliance (refrigerator-cooking stove etc.) and you will get rid of all roaches - water bugs - and all other offsprings of roaches.
It works - the fleas were something else - but finally got rid of them all.
Thanks again PL.

Good to see you, deeann...as always! Tell Sadie we said HELLO!

I have another question for mighty oak....I've got a grape arbor that needs attention...hasn't been pruned in years, and the arbor timbers are about to fall over. The grapes are marvelous, but I don't really know what kind they are. This arbor belonged to Dad and it sits on the property he left to my sister and me when he passed away. What I want to know is when should I prune and how should I prune?(I know, this isn't a tree question, but I thought you might have info I could use.)

THANKS!