I have a plum tree (located right up tight beside an arbutus unedo, close to magnolias, and adjacent to a few deutzias) covered in small black ants. They are literally swarming the trunk. They are all over the tree, on the leaves. The tree doesn't look healthy. The arbutus unedo suffered a lot of winter damage and itself is struggling with many dead branches and leaves (which I am trying to prune). I haven't found ants on the other trees (yet). I'm a newbie gardener (just this year). I did my internet search and found that the ants are probably after the aphids and the honeydew they produce. So I went out and got some Tangelfoot. It has stopped some of the ants, not all. Last night I sprayed the tree (as high as I could reach) with mixture of water and detergent. But I can't reach that high as my ladder is only 6 ft and the tree is about 15-20. Today, there are still ants on the leaves, high on the tree. I took these pictures of the leaves...some green, some redish and wilting, most with lots of bites out of them, some with odd greyish/white stuff on it (as in pic 740kb)...and I found one leaf - oh my goodness - I've never seen the little devils up close. What do I do with them? Yuck. So...am I doing the right things? How can I make this tree healthy again? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
The ants probably live in the ground dependin on what ants are there, so you may be able to control them by making a barrier on the trunk to stop them climbing up. There are horticultural glues available, but I was once told that you can do the same with vaseline.
Thanks. I have read about vaseline as well. The tangelfoot has stopped the major ant invasion as it is a sticky tape-like barrier applied half-way up the tree. Now I just have to investigate how to get best get rid of the aphids without using pesticides. I heard that one can buy ladybugs at Home Depot? Is that worth a try?
Tangle foot is a pesticide, heck so is water if you use it to kill something. Pesticide just means to kill a pest. Safer's Soap is usually a good choice in controlling aphids. And you may already have lady Bugs on your Tree. Purchasing and releasing them is fun and they should stick around long enough to eat up some Aphids, especially if you have blocked the ants Aphids for the most part don't cause much damage to Plum trees. They definitely are not the cause to the damage you are seeing on those leaves. Aphids are more of a problem on Tulip trees and Lindens where they cause massive amounts of sap to excrete from the leaves making a mess all over everything below them. Although they really do no damage to these trees. And of course on Sunset Maples if the little black Aphids appear the same time as bud break. It stresses the Maples right out. Sorry for the novel, but I wouldn't get too concerned about the Aphids hurting your tree, unless you think the tree is in decline, or a lot of sap is falling. Good Luck Jim.
Re: Plum Tree, Ants, Aphids, Safers Insecticidal Soap Dear JimWeed: I like novels. It was short enough... Here's a short one in return... The decline of the tree is quite apparent, poor thing...so today I went and got Safers Insecticidal Soap in concentrated form, hoping to use my new sprayer. If it isn't the aphids attacking the tree, I can't imagine what else is making it look so unhealthy. Interestingly, the aphids are mostly on the lower leaves of the tree, not higher up, and mostly on the leaves at the ends of the branches. I don't know why this is. I'd be interested in knowing more about the lifestyle of these ugly little things. In attempting to use my new pressurized sprayer, I found out a couple things and perhaps other gardening newbies will be interesting in reading this - you experts will just roll your eyes and perhaps...remember when (you started?). When using concentrated insecticidal soap, I suggest you put the water in gently...because to do otherwise (like I did) will only cause foam (like you get on the top of a beer) and it'll take a long time (with frustration) to fill a 5L spray bottle. After THAT, I then tried to pressurized the *&$%#! thing and it wouldn't work (too much foam?) so I put a portion of it into a small spray bottle...only to find that the sprayer on it was broken as well. Somehow, I worked around it and got what I needed done. Finally, while it was not breezy today, I had to watch where I stood while I sprayed as the air would take whatever (little) squirted out and it would fly away rather quickly. This I learned after a couple squirts flew at me and I had to quickly duck. I did all this with a disposable face mask on so that, at the very least, I wouldn't breathe it all in by mistake. Oh, brother...Gardening is exhausting. The jury is out on whether on not I'm going to pave over my back yard. I promise to give it some time.
joZ, your too funny! Put the water in first then add the soap, and shake well to mix. Then rinse out sprayer before you remix with "water first" as to not have it foam up again. And of course when you are finished clean out your sprayer or the soap will gum it up and it won't work very well next time. Oh and did you clean it out the last time you used it? If you didn't then this may be the next time and why it didn't work very well, lol. The center of your tree looks a little bare, could that be from pruning a few years ago? Although from what I can see your little tree looks pretty healthy. The deadliest problem would be a Bacterial Blight. Causing those sucker growth style branches to have die back at the nodes. Basically leaving more leaves at the end of the branches only, whereas your tree has leaves all along the branch, a good thing! As for your friends the Aphids, those ones are sucking insects, so they they don't chew any holes. Too many of them can make the tips a bit unsightly, but when they're gone the leaves should spring right back. Oh, and they like the tips because there is plenty of softer new tissue to suck through. You could actually use a water hose with a gun on the end and just knock them off every couple weeks. This will kill them as they have a little prong stuck in the leaf, when you blast them off it'll rip there heads off. The holes you are seeing look to be some sort of environmental stress on the tree. Possibly from a bit of root damage. Hot dry summers, excessive wet winters, unusual temps, slight lack of nutrients and competing with other plants, are all causes for roots to slightly decline, in return effecting the foliage with holes. And quit tearing all the leaves of it for pictures, just kidding. From what I can see, to be honest, your tree looks pretty good. I would be proud of that little guy! Lots of water during the summer and a bit of fertilizer wouldn't hurt either. Check some of the other trees with big leaves and you will likely see the same type of holes in them as well, it's pretty common these days. Regards jim.
Yo jimweed... I'm glad SOMEONE is laughing (AT me AND with me). I confessed already I am a newbie. I should nickname myself "Lucy" as my foam ordeal reminded me of an "I love Lucy" episode. Regardless of my antics, your comments are much appreciated. Especially interesting was: "when you blast them off it'll rip there heads off" - sounds more like a horror gardening movie. I will try blasting the aphids this week. Thanks again !! joZ
Hi I had aphids on my apple tree last year, and decided the real pests were the darned ants who were herding them. I put a collar of Tanglefoot on the trunk and then simply washed the tree with a very strong spray of water. Without the ants, the aphids seemed to stay away. The water was easier than dealing with the soap (and cheaper too).
I have the same syntoms on my lemon tree, couldn't this be caused by a nutriment deficiency? Which could cause the wickness of the plant and the attack of the aphids.
