Ron, good point on trees not touching fence or other trees. I do that too. I don’t use Tanglefoot on my trees as my dogs seem to always get into it, as most of my tree trunks are only 18" high.
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Well, for the meantime, I’ve seem to have won the “Battle of Aphids”. After a few sprays of neem oil, pyrethrins, cleared ant access trails, (leaves touching poles) and reapplying Tanglefoot, the little chlorophyll suckers are no more.
The Tanglefoot needed reapplying due to the brave ants completing an astonishing brave act. The brave ants struggled step by step as the sticky tanglefoot had slowed them down to a crawl. Unfortunately, those few brave ants that made it across, only escalated the aphid population.
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After ladybug babies hatched, in just a few days,all black aphids are gone, dead.
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That happens here often with the natural arrival of lady beetles, unless aphids are protected by ants.
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I’ve noticed an unbelievable amount of black aphids in the yard recently. They don’t seem to bother the fruit trees. My tomato plant is getting attacked. Other than that they are just flying around in masses it seems like. Last couple of days temps have been in 90’s. So I didn’t want to spray neem. Plus the days of the tomato plant are numbered anyway. So I thought about leaving them alone but I’m wondering if I just ignore large amount of aphids, what else could they attract to the yard? I mean other than beneficial lady bugs, could they attract bad bugs too?