Grease or glue bands?

My personal experience, having used both, is that the bands work best. It's a fiddle to replace them as the trunk enlarges but a lot better for the tree. Old bands and bugs that are attached can easily be tossed and not attract other pests, and the height or locations can be adjusted to suit. And I find several spaced a few inches above one another catch 99.9% of whatever.

If you do the trunk direct, it's a smeary mess that never washes off and gets worse over the years because ants never give up.

.... I've decided to order some glue bands too thank you, and that's a handy tip about using several at different heights