I have been living here for 3 summers. There is a huge snowball tree and it was so beautiful the first summer. Last year it looked like it was going to die. It did not have many leaves and what leaves that it did have were all lacy looking. I had assumed there were insects eating the leaves, but I could not find any insects on it. This year I thought the tree must surely be dead, or close to it because it was soooo late bearing leaves. So I pruned alot of the dead branches and the ones close to the ground. Within a week the tree began to leave out and it has many more leaves than it had last year. I check it almost daily and I noticed a few leaves were becoming lacy. I also notice that there are lady bugs enjoying the bounty. Can I spray something on the tree that will deter the bugs?
Sounds like viburnum leaf beetle - suggestions for less toxic ways of dealing with them are on that site.
