Hey all, thinking this may be signs of aphids, whaddya think? Best treatment?
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What is there when you pick them off with fine tweezers? Does it look like there might be a bug (aphid) inside or not? If not, then it might be some sort of fungus or similar. Another option is scale which are more often along the needles, but might be where you show as well. It could also be pine needle tip moth, but i have not had those (luck I guess).
With a light infestation you may be able to knock them down with a really good hard water spray from the sides every so often. That does a great job of dislodging critters that are not burrowed in too far. When combined with good tree health (proper soil, lots of sun, and consistent fertilizer for short needle pines) that will often keep aphids under control. I don’t have lodgepole, but I have Scots and that is what works for me. Malathion is my go to for most soft body insects like aphids, but I don’t have to use it often and a simple hand spray bottle directly on the insects is often enough.
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It looks like white flies that I just dealt with on my shore pine. It’s a possibility…If so, rubbing alcohol on a q-tip swab and that got rid of them for me.
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Looks like woolly adelgids to me - I’ve had it on my ponderosa pine. You can use horticultural soap and it’ll take care of it.
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Hey all! I’ve been monitoring these, I had initially just used some light dawn dishsoap mixture like I do on indoor pests, and then I went back in and cleaned them off after the suggestion above to poke into them. I couldn’t find any insect underneath, at least none that were juicy! 
Yea you’re on the right track. Dawn and water, spray enough to get a little froth. Blast what is left off with a good hard spray. I had an apple that was really bad and I just kept at it with this method and it cleared up.
@AbrahamWilson care to share your dish detergent recipe? Would be good to know what ratio of soap to water you used.
I’m facing a similar problem on my Japanese white pine this season (first pine I’ve ever owned). A good spray with water seemed to get most of them, but I would like to have another tool if needed.
I just fill up a spray bottle with water and put in a tablespoon of good quality dish soap like dawn. I turn the spray nozzle to make it a direct stream and then just blast the infestation directly. Spraying it self will kill all the adults then the residual soap makes life hard on the eggs and larvae. Do it every few days until you don’t see them more.
You can also just skip the soap sprayer and aggressively blast them off with water every time you water, this also works with mites. I use a sprayer nozzle that has different settings and just power wash them off.
Lmk if you have more questions. Good luck
Abe
Just wanted to share that the dish soap trick did the job. I was able to get rid of most simply by using some high pressure from the hose. For those that were clinging on the soap spray was effective at getting rid of the rest. Now on to other pests!