Apply Tanglefoot to Fruit Tree Trunks for Ant and Crawling Insect Control. 5.3.15

Tanglefoot and polyethylene strips.  5.3.15

 This is a good time of year to apply Tanglefoot to fruit tree trunks.  It's  well in advance of fruit ripening, but after most of the Spring rains.

For figs, the Tanglefoot prevents ants from climbing the trunk and entering ripe figs.  Without the Tanglefoot, my figs invariably have some added crunch, that seems to move around on the tongue.  In addition to being odd, infection by ants also seems to cause mold spoilage of the figs before they fully ripen.  I suspect the ants carry mold spores.

For cherries, Tanglefoot prevents black aphids.  My theory there is ants farm the aphids.  Either that or, the black aphids climb the trunk themselves.  Whatever the case, the Tanglefoot prevents them.

I also apply to apples, pears, and peaches.  The treatment does not stop problems caused by flying insects, but does stop problems caused by tree-climbing insects.

I don't know that tanglefoot applied directly to the trunk is harmful.  It is messy, sticky, and next to impossible to remove.  I wrap tightly with 6-inch-wide strips of light-weight polyethylene.  The strips are cut from disposable grocery store bags.  They are too flimsy to girdle the trunk.  I wrap twice, then tie with a square knot.  Then apply Tanglefoot, squeezing a strip from the tube like toothpaste, and spread on the plastic wrapping using a disposable plastic spoon. 

Being very cheap, I save the plastic spoons from my work place lunch.  I usually take my own flatware, but sometimes forget.

Wrapping fig tree trunk.  5.3.15

During the winter, I remove the Tanglefoot.   By then, it is covered with dust, dirt, plant material, and ineffective at stopping insects.   The polyethylene bags are flimsy enough, to simply pull off the tree trunks.

Alternatively, one could apply sticky plastic tape, sticky-side out.  I would not use duct-tape, which is too tough and might girdle the tree.

Tree protected with Tanglefoot.  5.3.15

Colors today. 4.26.15

Meadowfoam.  Limnanthes douglasii  4.26.15

Mountain Ash.  Sorbus aucuparia.  4.26.15

Ning's flowers.   4.26.15

Shan Xha.  Crataegus pinnatifida.  4.27.15

Ning's Tree Peony.  4.27.15

Crimson Maple.  4.27.15

Viburnum opulus "Sterile".  4.27.15

Camassia

Lilac "Bloomerang"

Meadowfoam.  Limnanthes douglasii

Mulberry "Illinois Everbearing"

Persimmon "Saijo"

Annual flowers. 4.26.15

Image source:  Publicdomainphotos.net

I planted seedlings outside, from the starts I began a few weeks ago.  Nasturtiums and French Marigolds.

Looked for some public domain photos to use, but they seem to be more scarce.  Will need to photograph when they are blooming.

It might still be too cool for these.  The only way to know is to try.

Honeybee swarm. 4.25.15

Honeybee swarm.  4.25.15

 Ning got excited when the honeybees were swarming.  Neither of us had ever seen that phenomenon before.

The swarm settled in a horsechestnut tree.  I don't know how to entice them into hives.  I sat a Warre hive and a top bar hive near the tree to see if they would be interested.  I added some crushed lemon balm leaves.  I read they are attracted to lemon grass, but I don't have any around.  A also sat a small dish of sugar water in the hive and another one near the hive.

As of this post, a few have buzzed around the hive entrance, but none have ventured inside.

Thinning and Zipper Bagging Fruits. 4.25.15

Aubique Petite fig with zipper bags.  4.25.15

Apple cluster before thinning / bagging.  4.25.15

 Today I started bagging fruits, apples and some pears and figs.  The apples are the most important. In my yard, I lose most apples to coddling moth.  Bagging early should prevent that.  Some pears are lost, but not as bad.  Figs do well.  With figs, this is an experiment to see if the bags will deter birds or hasten ripening.  Protecting them in fall would be more important than now, due to shorter rainy fall days that slow ripening, reduce flavor, and encourage mold.

Prior posts about bagging fruits.  Summary -  Easy.  Greatly reduces disease and insect damage.  May be beneficial for some bird damage.  May hasten ripening.  Very few negatives, some report mold on peaches but not so much for other fruits.

I thinned apple clusters to one fruit per cluster, and removed all flowers within 6 inches.  That is pretty severe, but most years my apples are smaller than I would like.  Thinning can help them ripen faster, grow larger, and maybe more flavor. 

This was not much trouble at all.  Puttering meditation.  Puttering medication.  Kind of disappointed when ran out of bags.

Most articles recommend bagging when fruit is dime size.  These are smaller.  I don't think that's a negative.  If they all rot and fall off, I'll know what I did wrong.

Apple singlet after bagging.  4.25.15

Zipper bagged apple bush.  4.25.15