black aphids on cherry tree

[jellyfish]

Our beautiful cherry tree (5 years old) was virtually destroyed last summer by black cherry aphids
This is the first year I've had this problem and NOTHING has worked. Tried various soap and water recipies...nothing. Tried hosing them off...no good, too many of them. I erraticated (or so I thought) the entire tree with soap and water and tearing off infested leaves 4 times this summer only to see another horde infest it 4 days later.
have looked into the natural approach...
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dLyJJxbEV8[/url]
was wondering if there is anything like this "tanglefoot" on the UK market? and more importantly would this cure the problem?

[applestar]

Oh I loath those black oily aphids! My best approach is to keep an eagle eye on the cherry trees ( I have two espaliered in fan against a fence) for curled leaves because that's where they are. Uncurl and mush the lot with soapy hands. I keep a cup of soapy water with me and dip my hand in as I go, washing them off and "loading" my hand.

If you can get at them early enough before the full blown infeststion takes hold, it seems to help break the cycle. When the ladybugs come to my garden, I start transferring them to the cherry trees as well -- then I have to watch out for the larvae and adults among the aphids when I uncurl the leaves.

I also have volunteer cherry saplings that pop up everywhere in my garden. I can only assume they grow from bird droppings -- they have the cherry leaves but have not flowered yet so I don't know where they are coming from though my weeping cherry sometimes fruit so I'm wondering.... Anyway, I use them as sacrificial traps and ruthlessly cut off branches with infested leaves and bag them for disposal.

If you don't get very many lady bugs/beetles in your garden, and your tree is not that big, you could wrap your tree with a screen, sheer curtain or agricultural floating cover tied closed to the trunk and buy and release them inside so they don't fly away. Once they eat their fill, mate, and lay eggs, you'll have plenty of hungry larvae to take care of the aphids so you can unwrap the tree and let the beetles be free.

[applestar]

This all sounded so familiar -- case of déjà vu...?
I was right -- here is your thread from lat year:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=196494#196494

Be sure to start looking as soon as the flower petals fall like JONA said.

[critterfeeder]

Solution with household item: 1" wide masking tape................Snugly wrap 2 separated 'rings' of the tape on a smooth-surfaced round section of the trunk with the sticky side facing outward. Check each morning to see which crawling things are stuck to the tape. Small lizards can sometimes get stuck, and they can gently be freed to hunt again for bugs. You may catch ants carrying aphids up the tree. In a week or three, the tape can begin to lose it's stickiness or get full of bugs, so just replace it with new rings. Regretfully, slugs slither right over it. For a tree that is already full of aphids, hose all the suckers off with lots of forceful water, and afterwards apply the tape to prevent their return. I have been sticking to this plan for 2 years and it does mask the symptoms.

[JONA878]

Solution with household item: 1" wide masking tape................Snugly wrap 2 separated 'rings' of the tape on a smooth-surfaced round section of the trunk with the sticky side facing outward. Check each morning to see which crawling things are stuck to the tape. Small lizards can sometimes get stuck, and they can gently be freed to hunt again for bugs. You may catch ants carrying aphids up the tree. In a week or three, the tape can begin to lose it's stickiness or get full of bugs, so just replace it with new rings. Regretfully, slugs slither right over it. For a tree that is already full of aphids, hose all the suckers off with lots of forceful water, and afterwards apply the tape to prevent their return. I have been sticking to this plan for 2 years and it does mask the symptoms.

Only one snag....breeding aphids have wings.
They are pretty amazing creatures in reality in that the female can lay eggs or give live birth according to the viability of the enviroment.
That's why if the feeding is good they will increase in numbers at a terrific rate.

[rainbowgardener]

Oh yes, truly amazing little creatures! I don't know about these particular aphids, but some aphids have alternation of generations. That is they may have several generations of aphids that are all female, born pregnant, and reproduce parthenogenetically, without any males. That makes numbers increase VERY fast! Only near the end of the season do they start producing males, which mate with the females, who then lay eggs for overwintering.

article titled "aphids are really a wonder" https://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100804-LIFE-8040311?cid=sitesearch