That sounds like how they infest my trees, they always have a favorite or two they start on. It makes it easy to control them, I only need to check the upper shoots on a few trees. For me Middleburg is the biggest magnet. Coe’s is not a problem. It seems like it may have to do with where the eggs are laid, they start in the same spot every year.
Scott,
These E. plums throw out long canes. Coe’s branches have grown 2-3 ft in a month. Most are almost straight up.
Do you bend them down? Their branches seem more bendable than pears’. It’ll be a lot easier to spray soap mix on them, too.
If I need more structure I will bend some down to horizontal. Any extras I remove. Summer pruning is also helpful to reduce vigor, head them off to 1’ or so.
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Thanks, Scott. I probably will do a combination of bending, shortening and removing.
Thanks for the information and encouragement. I have noted significantly more ladybugs since I left the spraying regime. However there are lots of aphids as well. I agree that the only sure way to control them without damage to tree is physically removing them.
I will try to go over and manually remove them again. It is a very labor intensive job, about 2 hours per tree and I always seem to miss a few branches. However your experience encourages me to believe there can be some long term advantages. So far it has only been a few weeks and they are back. But I did not continue that beyond a few times and probably started too late in the infestation.
As summer wanes I have noticed less active sites on the trees and many leaves with just a few of them attached. They may be moving on or it could be a seasonal die back.
Keep us posted as to the long term results.
Tom
Do aphids ever take a break? One or two times a day I pinch, rub, and recently started spraying with water. All these work but I have a new supply soon afterward. Bill
Bill, if there are a lot of new ones every day I would put down a soap spray. You need to hit heavily, the leaves filled with aphids are hard to get the soap to stick to. I did a couple soap sprays this spring when the bloom got too bad.
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I am glad that last week I was able to squished those aphids by hands and did not harm the “one” instar of lady bug I recognized. Today I saw two ladybugs and 5-6 instars feeding on aphids. So, I left the aphids to those ladybugs.
Thank you
Scott
Just wanted to check in with you to see if your “squash” campaign kept you relatively aphid free through last years fruiting season.
As I mentioned my trees were sprayed but the infestation continued to grow faster than I could keep up with due to the limited time period I could spray. We had record heat here in Oregon and I had to limit spraying as even with washing off the tree I almost lost a Brooks plum as the spray defoliated a large part of the tree.
I am gearing up to again dormant spray with hort oil this winter/early spring and be more vigilant for the outbreaks in the spring. I am very afraid though of continued spraying as it does affect the predators in addition to being hard to manage when we are in the heat of summer.
Tom.
Tom, I had no more aphid problems the remainder of the summer. I did have a really bad Japanese beetle problem later, and I ended up putting down milky spore for the first time given how bad it was.
For the green aphids I ended up using a combination of spraying soap on the top shoots and squishing when there were not so many. I probably had to do this a dozen times over the summer. They really prefer the highest shoots so they were a really good trap, let them build up there then just spray the high shoots (only). There was only one time when I had enough on the lower shoots that I had to spray them.
You mentioned soap spray but my formula did not seem to work well. I used the neem oil and soap mix of 1tsp neem plus 2tsp soap to a gallon. What mix do you use? Did it have immediate effect, in a day. I did see some distressed aphids that were blown off but not too many that looked distressed or hurting.
Thanks Tom
Tom the soap sprays killed nearly all the aphids. I have gotten the best results with straight soap. Neem and mineral oil did not do nearly as well.
The soap spray that Scott suggested worked well for me. Immediately after spraying I wasn’t sure how well it worked but the second day I could clearly see that they were gone or dead. Bill
Scott, is straight soap like Dawn or Palmolive right out of the bottle? no dilution?
I am gearing up for another aphid year given the last two were real challenging. Was also interested in your opinion on dormant sprays. I did notice a bit slower infestation after a several thorough dormant spray applications.
Thanks Tom
I use horticultural soap such as Safer brand insecticidal soap, diluted as per the label. Dish soap at the right dilution will also work but it can make a foamy mess in the sprayer; I never tried it.
Dormant oil is more for mites and scale than aphids, but it will get some aphids and the later you wait the more help it will be. For apples you can spray at pink.
I am hoping I have fewer aphids this year since I controlled them much better last year. But they can breed incredibly fast so it could just be a pipe dream.
Does soap spray kill the lady bugs too? Hope to keep them alive somehow.
I am pretty sure they just brush it off, only aphids and scale have pores on their skin that you can clog with soap. I am sure it it not pleasant but I don’t think it is mortal.
Back on the original subject here, I have been more pro-active this year, I sprayed oil right after bloom for example even though no aphids at all were in sight. I am also looking earlier for infestations and hand crushing. So far I have found only two “packs” of them on their favorite initial tree (Middleburg), which promptly got crushed. Maybe a little work earlier pays off in terms of a lot less work later. Or so goes the eternal hope in spring. Checking my log from last year, it was about now through the end of May when I had the worst blooms.
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The Curly Leaf Aphids went crazy this Spring for the Purple Heart Plum grafts on the Flavor Supreme and to a lesser extent,some other ones.I tried oil early,about first showing of color and later,home made soap spray.
After the infestation was heavy,I bought a container of of Natria Neem oil spray by Bayer.That stuff really cooks the leaves though and I won’t use it again.
At least the bugs left the Flavor Grenade almost completely alone and interestingly,didn’t touch the Beauty Plum grafts on the FS. Brady
I’m glad I read this thread. I have a new Brook plum and it’s good to know about its susceptibility.