Aphid advice

[41magsnub]

Two of my trees have a serious aphid problem that I am late correcting, most of the leaves are gone and the trees are crawling with the little buggers.  With an insecticide sprayer on the end of a hose, a ladder, and a broom stick I can get all but the top 4' of the trees.  I have a feeling that is not good enough since they will just breed up top and spread down as well as to my other trees.

Any other ideas?  Call a pro with proper spraying equipment?

[Scout26]

Ladybugs.....

[RocketMan]

Fire

[RaspberrySurprise]

Ladybugs.....

Fire

Ladybugs ON FIRE!

[charby]

Ladybugs ON FIRE!

Ladybugs with flame throwers.

[Scout26]

Ladybugs with flame throwers and lasers on their backs.

[makattak]

Ladybugs with flame throwers and lasers on their backs.

Well, at least he got ONE serious response...


I mean, with frickin' lazerbeams on their heads!

[vaskidmark]

most of the leaves are gone

At this point I imagine the best advice is that you borrow, buy, or rent a chainsaw.  Depending on the size of the trees and how close they are to your house/other structures you may want to rent an insured and bonded tree service that will also haul away the trash and grind the stumps.

On the other hand, ther is something to be said for DIY (not my story - found on the internet):

Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our place sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow.  Did you know that a 1955 40 horse Farmhall tractor will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough sumbich.  That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazzard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips  of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place.  Keep in mind this was 99.999% humidity swampland so there really wasn't any fire danger.  I’ll put it this way, a set of post hole diggers and a 3ft. hole and you had yourself a well.

Anyway, one summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard.  I look  over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (ether).  The light bulb went off.  I grabbed the can and set it on the  stump.  I thought it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner . .. . let’s face it.  To a 10 yr. old mouth-breather like myself ether really doesn't "sound" flammable.  So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex  (black powder for muzzle loader rifles) to add to the excitement.  At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder.  My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the ether can but it all sorta dumped out on me.  No biggie...1lb pyrodex and 16oz ether should make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know?  You know what?  Screw that.  I'm going back in the house for the other can.  Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too.  Now we're cookin!  

I stepped back about 15ft and lit the 2stroke arrow.  I drew the nock to my cheek and took aim.  As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow.  In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my  dad getting out of the truck... OH s___! He just got home from work.  So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can.  My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes.  I turned back towards my target just in time to see  the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom.  Right through the main pile of pyrodex and into the can.  

Oh. s___.  When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet.  I don't know if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 f___ing decibels of sound.  I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1ft above the ground as far as I could see.  It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full  of grasshoppers, spiders, and a crawfish or two.  The daylight turned purple.  Let me repeat this...THE DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE!  There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture.  Notice I said "was".  That mother got up and ran off.  So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my Thundercats T-shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback – ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOUR BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE  DAMNIT CEASE FIRE!!!!!  His hat has blown off and is 30 ft. behind him in the driveway.  All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there  is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000ft over our backyard.  There is a Honda 185s 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and  the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires.  

I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment.  I don't know- I know I said something.  I couldn't hear.  I couldn't hear inside my own head.  I don't think he heard me either...  not that it would really matter.  I don't remember much from this point on.  I said something, felt a  sharp pain, and then woke up later.  I felt a sharp pain, blacked out,  woke later.... repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea.  I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR so dad could beat me some more.  Bring him back to life so dad can kill him again.  Thanks mom.  One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again.  Mom had been b____ing about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it.  I stepped up to the plate and  handled business.  

Dad sold his muzzleloaders a week or so later.  And I still have some sort of bone growth abnormality either from the blast or the beating.  Or both.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into  archery.. Its good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.  Something they won't learn in school.

I believe this process will effectively deal with the aphids.

stay safe.

skidmark

[41magsnub]

At this point I imagine the best advice is that you borrow, buy, or rent a chainsaw.  Depending on the size of the trees and how close they are to your house/other structures you may want to rent an insured and bonded tree service that will also haul away the trash and grind the stumps.

On the other hand, ther is something to be said for DIY (not my story - found on the internet):

I believe this process will effectively deal with the aphids.

stay safe.

skidmark

Honestly, for $20 I'll give the lady bugs a chance.  If they are dead next year I'll go with the rip and burn route.  They are only 6" trunks in the grass patch between the sidewalk and the street (required by covenant, or they would be gone already).  They are just really really tall ones and big enough the stump removal would be a hassle.  10 yrs old and extremely healthy and fast growing like a weed up until this year though I have no idea what they are.  Dropping them would not be a big deal, just go diagonal into the street and drag back into the yard.

[makattak]

At this point I imagine the best advice is that you borrow, buy, or rent a chainsaw.  Depending on the size of the trees and how close they are to your house/other structures you may want to rent an insured and bonded tree service that will also haul away the trash and grind the stumps.

On the other hand, ther is something to be said for DIY (not my story - found on the internet):

Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our place sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow.  Did you know that a 1955 40 horse Farmhall tractor will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough sumbich.  That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazzard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips  of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place.  Keep in mind this was 99.999% humidity swampland so there really wasn't any fire danger.  I’ll put it this way, a set of post hole diggers and a 3ft. hole and you had yourself a well.

Anyway, one summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard.  I look  over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (ether).  The light bulb went off.  I grabbed the can and set it on the  stump.  I thought it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner . .. . let’s face it.  To a 10 yr. old mouth-breather like myself ether really doesn't "sound" flammable.  So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex  (black powder for muzzle loader rifles) to add to the excitement.  At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder.  My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the ether can but it all sorta dumped out on me.  No biggie...1lb pyrodex and 16oz ether should make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know?  You know what?  Screw that.  I'm going back in the house for the other can.  Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too.  Now we're cookin! 

I stepped back about 15ft and lit the 2stroke arrow.  I drew the nock to my cheek and took aim.  As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow.  In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my  dad getting out of the truck... OH s___! He just got home from work.  So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can.  My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes.  I turned back towards my target just in time to see  the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom.  Right through the main pile of pyrodex and into the can. 

Oh. s___.  When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet.  I don't know if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 f___ing decibels of sound.  I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1ft above the ground as far as I could see.  It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full  of grasshoppers, spiders, and a crawfish or two.  The daylight turned purple.  Let me repeat this...THE DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE!  There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture.  Notice I said "was".  That mother got up and ran off.  So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my Thundercats T-shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback – ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOUR BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE  DAMNIT CEASE FIRE!!!!!  His hat has blown off and is 30 ft. behind him in the driveway.  All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there  is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000ft over our backyard.  There is a Honda 185s 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and  the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires. 

I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment.  I don't know- I know I said something.  I couldn't hear.  I couldn't hear inside my own head.  I don't think he heard me either...  not that it would really matter.  I don't remember much from this point on.  I said something, felt a  sharp pain, and then woke up later.  I felt a sharp pain, blacked out,  woke later.... repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea.  I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR so dad could beat me some more.  Bring him back to life so dad can kill him again.  Thanks mom.  One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again.  Mom had been b____ing about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it.  I stepped up to the plate and  handled business. 

Dad sold his muzzleloaders a week or so later.  And I still have some sort of bone growth abnormality either from the blast or the beating.  Or both.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into  archery.. Its good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.  Something they won't learn in school.

I believe this process will effectively deal with the aphids.

stay safe.

skidmark

Thanks. My wife just looked at me like I was insane while I took 5 minutes before I stopped laughing and crying to try to read it to her.

I couldn't make it more then a sentence past "Ether doesn't really 'sound' flammable" without cracking up.

My sides are going to ache for days.

[RaspberrySurprise]

How the human race has lived this long given the proclivities of little boys for things that ought to kill them I don't know.

[makattak]

How the human race has lived this long given the proclivities of little boys for things that ought to kill them I don't know.

There's a reason God made boys heal so fast...

[RaspberrySurprise]

There's a reason God made boys heal so fast...

So we can try what we just did again, cause IT WAS AWESOME!

[41magsnub]

The aphids are under control, apparently I had enough over spray that the whole tree got hit.  There are leaves on almost every branch again.  I think they are going to live.

now..  nobody locally had lady bugs so I ordered 1500 from olive-trees.net and I am very glad I used a credit card.  Here we are over a week later and the order is still processing with no response to calls or e-mails asking about it and ultimately ignoring me when I try to cancel the order. They charged the credit card immediately but appear to have no intention of actually shipping anything.  Should have googled them first...  http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/comments.php?compid=3143&type=3

At least it is only $25 and I should get it refunded via the credit card anyway.

Since I feel vindictive I posted a BBB report and sent the details to the DA in their county who supposedly has an investigation running already.

[roo_ster]

Where can a guy buy ladybugs from that is not a scam?

Heck, I'd like to invest in a bunch of Mediterranean Geckos and Green Anoles, too.

I would think of the 'zards as my Hessian Mercenaries hired/bought to kill the roaches/water bugs here'bouts.

[41magsnub]

Where can a guy buy ladybugs from that is not a scam?

Heck, I'd like to invest in a bunch of Mediterranean Geckos and Green Anoles, too.

I would think of the 'zards as my Hessian Mercenaries hired/bought to kill the roaches/water bugs here'bouts.

It is apparently quite common to buy them.  Many nurseries either have them in stock more temperate climates or will order them for you.

[BrokenPaw]

Where can a guy buy ladybugs from that is not a scam?

Heck, I'd like to invest in a bunch of Mediterranean Geckos and Green Anoles, too.

I would think of the 'zards as my Hessian Mercenaries hired/bought to kill the roaches/water bugs here'bouts.

Not always a good idea to introduce non-native species en masse to an area; consider that if there was an ecological niche appropriate for such critters in your area, probably there would already be critters like that in your area, filling that niche.

I seem to recall hearing that many "pest" species were brought into an area by people in order to stop another (generally indigenous) unwanted critter, and got out of control.

For instance, Kudzu was brought in, IIRC, to act as erosion-preventing ground cover, and it's gone and eaten rather a lot of the South.

-BP

[makattak]

Not always a good idea to introduce non-native species en masse to an area; consider that if there was an ecological niche appropriate for such critters in your area, probably there would already be critters like that in your area, filling that niche.

I seem to recall hearing that many "pest" species were brought into an area by people in order to stop another (generally indigenous) unwanted critter, and got out of control.

For instance, Kudzu was brought in, IIRC, to act as erosion-preventing ground cover, and it's gone and eaten rather a lot of the South.

-BP

But, hey, at least there's less erosion!

[41magsnub]

I don't know about the lizards, but the lady bugs would be pretty safe.  We have those all over Missoula, just not in my yard.

[crt360]

Heck, I'd like to invest in a bunch of Mediterranean Geckos and Green Anoles, too.

We've got plenty of the Geckos, Green Anoles and fence lizards.  I like having them around, but the cats will hunt and eat them.

[roo_ster]

Not always a good idea to introduce non-native species en masse to an area; consider that if there was an ecological niche appropriate for such critters in your area, probably there would already be critters like that in your area, filling that niche.

They are native (or, in the case of the Med Gecko, already here).

I just want more of them.  Armed with pikes.

[Azrael256]

Just watch out!  The little bastards keep trying to sell me car insurance.

But seriously, anybody who wants some of the little critters can come hang out in my garage for an hour.