I Declare War on Wooly Aphid

Every year my apple trees get infested with this disgusting pest, and I have had enough. They are going to be exterminated.

But how?

I am quite prepared to use chemicals, what is the best way to get rid of this annoying beast.

 

A mix of washing up liquid and anti-aphid insecticide, diluted in a sprayer, worked for me. You need the washing up liquid to dissolve the "wool" and get the insecticide to the bugs inside it. Make sure you spray all the wood thoroughly as well as the leaves, because they hide in cracks in the bark.

And use grease bands to stop ants getting up the trunk and farming the aphids.

 

When you say diluted pesticide, do you mean you take a standard garden centre liquid form and add water to sort of, thin it out?

 

No, most decent insecticides come as evil stuff which you need to dilute. One capful of liquid to 1l of water, kind of thing. So just add the washing up liquid to that.

 

Thank you, Bug Clear and Fairy Liquid seem to have done the trick.

 

Nice one. They'll come back, of course, like aphids always do. But a good spray kills enough to keep them under control.

 

I feel your pain. My young olive tree was covered in the bu**ers a couple of years ago. I didn't know enough about them to keep them at bay. Then the ensuing sooty mould engulfed the tree and it lost every single leaf over Autumn and into Winter! I was devastated. The next spring though, whilst I was looking for something to replace the olive tree, it came back to life in all it's glory and I just couldn't believe it. It's now healthy and vibrant.
I am totally in awe of nature. It's wonders, resilience and sheer ternacity never cease to amaze me.
Hope you manage to eliminate them. They haven't yet returned to my olive tree but I keep a very watchful eye out for them.

 

With respect to 'one and all' I am not an enthusiastic user of chemical in the garden. I would strongly advise always against going beyond the manufactuers directions, thus NO MIXING or over dosing.

My main experience with wooly aphid was when I spent some time growing cacti & succulents. Knowing that most chemicals can do more harm than good to the latter, I carried out a few test, (I am not a chemist) Methelated Spirit I found to do the job. Spraying was not called for. I used a small artist type paint brush, Q tip & cotton buds hadn'f evolved at that time. A tiny dab to the enemy of Meths, and that was it. OK treating a free is a much larger task but, consider the pros & cons. Spraying usually wastes so much. Even using a spray in this case, just spray the woolies, not the whole tree.

Bye the bye. NO SMOKING whilst using the Meths.

Meths, calls to mind my dealing with a Tramp. 'Gentleman of the streets' 1960's jargon. One day in Camden NW London, as a traffic cop, I was dealing with an incident and the Gent of the streets kept butting in. He really reaked of Meths. No. They didn't dab it on all over, they drank the stuff. Anyway To arrest him would mean washing out the van and the cell. So being a smoker at the time, I took out my lighter and offered him a light. He got the massage and buggered off.

 

Lessons learnt from a cactus the size of your hand do not scale to garden plants. They certainly aren't going to work on a standard size apple tree.

Meths these days also contains an additive to make it taste nasty (which is why people don't drink meths any more). I'm not putting that anywhere near my fruit tree, thanks.

With respect too, the choice of whether to use chemicals is up to each gardener. Howard said at the start that he was OK with it.