Time for Tanglefoot trunk wrap

Wow, where did you get the tube? All I’ve been able to find is the tub - I’ve had to use a spoon to scoop it out and spread it.

I just bought a tube from Amazon. I’m going to use flagging tape for the wrap.

The tub contents can be microwaved to make it paintable with a paint brush. I never microwaved in the actual tub, first I put into a sacrificial cup (a coffee cup that lost its handle). A sacrificial paint brush is also in order.

3 Likes

Thanks for the tip!

I didn’t think about heating the tanglefoot. I’ll have to try that - would be nice to spread it thinner.

Bear,
I think they were talking about heating neem paste, not tanglefoot.

I like tanglefoot the way it is. It is easily spread with the brush that come with it in the can.

The neem paste is runny if its warm out, only in winter do you need to heat it. Try microwaving tanglefoot, I think you will find it easier to get an even coat.

Just want to revive this thread for the benefit of new forum members who may not know about the usefulness of this simple preventative measure.

This year, just for convenience’s sake, I used masking tape to wrap tree trunks for a 7-8” wide band and smeared each band with Tangle foot.

1 Like

I like to use the plastic flagging tape. I have ants crawling up already too. I should get my trees wrapped. Those black aphids are hard to get rid of. To bad pc flys. wouldn’t it be great if this is all we had to do to control pc. I have been putting my tape higher on the trunk so it stays cleaner when I mow the orchard.- lawn.

1 Like

I was checking this out online and saw pictures of somewhat big bugs sticking to the paste. Has anybody noticed mason bees sticking to the paste? I don’t want to kill the little bee population I have.

I have never seen a bee stuck. Most insects do not get stuck but a few do. They usually find out it’s too sticky to walk across. The bugs that get stuck are going to be the climbers, and very few of those will venture into it to get stuck. Ants are the ones that mostly climb up, and they will cary aphids up too. They farm them to eat the honey dew poo that the aphids make. Keep the ants out of the trees and the lady bugs will eat the aphids.
I just finished applying it to my trees. The tube seam at the bottom came undone and made a mess. Even wearing rubber gloves I managed to get it on me!

2 Likes

Having once found bird feathers in a tanglefoot band I had stopped using it, but last year aphids/ants were so bad on my plums with an overpopulation of ants that only a suicidal lady bug would get near. I decided tanglefooted was again needed. But I came up with various plastic coverings (cones of sturdy sheet plastic or jugs or whatever I could find around) to keep birds from getting in it. It worked but the coverings were too fussy and bother for more than a few trees. This year, having the same situation, I realized I had an easy solution right there – my hardware cloth rodent barriers (24" squares rolled in a tube). I used to remove them in the spring but as my orchard grew decided there was no need. So I just took them off temporarily, put on tanglefoot (on flagging tape) just below the tops of the cages (so I could reach in to apply more tf if needed) and put the hardware cloth back on. No worry about birds now and I can still see the tf to reapply if needed.

On the over-anted trees I also put diatomacious earth around the base, though I’m not sure it does much except make me feel I’m doing something to knock them back. If you do that right before you start it does help keep them occupied and distracted and mostly off you while you work (except for the ones that jump off the tree and down your back.

One good thing about taking some years off of tanglefooting (and having a larger number of trees) is now I only do those trees that really need it (I used to do them all). I also found that a small size “chip brush” (the cheap wood handled rather stiff brushes you get at a hardware by the bagful for applying epoxy and such) work well for applying the tanglefoot. I can get it on thinner and with less mess. Sue

1 Like

I’ve not seen bird feathers in mine - good to know.
Warming up the container reduces the viscosity and makes it much easier to apply too.

1 Like

Sue,

I could not picture what you described re. various plastic covering. I hardly ever found feather on the Tanglefoot bands on all my trees, about 18 trees need the bands.

It could be that all my trees have short trunks (most are less than 4 ft off the ground. The bands are usually 1-2 ft off the ground. In general, birds do not fly that low and if they walk, it’s too high to bother them.

I used to find bees stuck on the tanglefoot red plastic apples

@scottfsmith, did you ever try this? How did it work out, compared to Tanglefoot?

1 Like

I did and it didn’t last that long so I put tanglefoot down. Tanglefoot lasts all summer.

2 Likes

I had Tanglefoot girdle young apple trees when I put it directly on the bark without reading directions. Be careful with the stuff. Years ago I put it directly on the bark of older apple trees with no problem.

3 Likes

Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for that, too. I noticed the warning in the directions, and I’m still looking for a good way to apply TF to young trees safely without the ants being able to crawl under it. Some kind of snug but stretchy tape that provides a sufficient barrier to the TF would seem to be the ticket.