Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Grubbypaws on June 17, 2021, 15:51
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When I see ants on the branches of my apple tree I know to go looking for blackfly. Question. Do they bring them to the tree from elsewhere or do they just re-arrange ones that are already on the tree? Can the blackfly flourish without the attention of the ants?
If it is that they bring them to the tree then I could maybe stop the ants from climbing the tree with a grease band or something sticky. However if the blackfly are already on the tree and just grouped by the ants stopping the ants would be a bad thing as I would never find the blackfly without them :unsure:
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Both. Break the cycle, grease band to stop the ants playing about in the tree and thumb squish or spray with whatever you feel comfortable with - even water to knock them back. Once the ants stop guarding them the natural predators will arrive, the ladybird larvae have a field day on my trees :)