Cherry tree black fly

**Jungle Jane** · 22-03-2015, 04:49 PM

This sounds like aphids,get a hand sprayer,give them a hard fast jet of water,to clean them off,this happened to my dads cherry tree,ants were farming the aphids,they also protect the aphid from predators. Have you noticed any ants on or near the base of the tree?

**fishpond** · 22-03-2015, 05:13 PM

Also make a paste of garden lime and paint it around the base of the tree (with a further ring of Vaseline above it to make sure, if needed).
This is a method I will be trying on my trees, especially plums, this year, as the ants are getting out of hand and farming aphids for the 3rd world and I feel it is time for me to fight back. (even the chickens get agitated).
Apparently ants really dislike lime and will avoid it if at all possible. (we shall see)

**Sheilakins** · 22-03-2015, 07:10 PM

Thanks guys, I've just ordered some Bug clear in the hope that I can get rid of the little blighters if they appear this year, no ants around the base of the tree tho, I did a google search on cherry black fly and found this info on the RHS https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=488

**FB.** · 22-03-2015, 07:38 PM

Originally posted by Sheilakins View Post

is there anything different I should try please..short of cutting my tree down and buying another

Ant control will probably be the best treatment, as mentioned by others above.
But please read the following topic and consider the 'collateral damage' to other beneficial insects and birds before launching more 'nukes' and 'chemical weapons' in the garden:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ids_79652.html

If you cut it down and replace it with another cherry, you'll still have the same problem of aphids and you might struggle to establish a new cherry near the location where one has grown before (known as 'replant disease').

Aphids are a common pest of fruit trees. I just let the natural predators deal with them, and grow trees on more vigorous rootstocks to ensure the tree is strong enough to shrug off the attack.

Here's a picture of what happens when aphids attack a tree on a vigorous rootstock - in this case an apple on M25 rootstock was attacked, growth stopped as the aphids sucked the life out of it and leaves became crinkled inside which the aphids will hide. After a couple of weeks the tree mounted a fightback and for every shoot which had been damaged by the aphids, two or three new shoots burst out, growing faster than the aphids could damage it:

**Jungle Jane** · 22-03-2015, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by Sheilakins View Post

Thanks guys, I've just ordered some Bug clear in the hope that I can get rid of the little blighters if they appear this year, no ants around the base of the tree tho, I did a google search on cherry black fly and found this info on the RHS https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=488

Ants & aphids come as a team,you haven't got aphid yet,therefore no ants. As soon as you notice aphids,check for ants then,or protect before it all happens with ant bait boxes & vaseline/grease band. I wouldn't use any pesticide because of the harm to beneficial insects as said before. Its the huge numbers of aphids that cause the damage/curled leaves,they're easy to remove by hand & squirting.

**Kirk** · 29-03-2015, 09:50 AM

I have a cherry of 18-20 feet and basically 2 options:
Leave it to sort itself out, or, spray with a systemic insecticide.
To get to over half I need a large pump sprayer if I do anything at all.
Will say the tree is about the only thing that I use an insecticide on but it really does get hit.

Never seen anything on the trunk, or any sign of ants in that area. Just one hell of a blackfly infestation. Whole clumps of leaves are baddly disfigured and it is normal that almost none are "normal" in shape. Ultimately that level of infestation can only I think be doing harm to the tree.

Which cherry variety is it?

**Sheilakins** · 29-03-2015, 10:19 AM

Originally posted by Kirk View Post

I have a cherry of 18-20 feet and basically 2 options:
Leave it to sort itself out, or, spray with a systemic insecticide.
To get to over half I need a large pump sprayer if I do anything at all.
Will say the tree is about the only thing that I use an insecticide on but it really does get hit.

Never seen anything on the trunk, or any sign of ants in that area. Just one hell of a blackfly infestation. Whole clumps of leaves are baddly disfigured and it is normal that almost none are "normal" in shape. Ultimately that level of infestation can only I think be doing harm to the tree.

Which cherry variety is it?

Same here never seen an ant in sight either last year or the year before, but like you one hell of a blackfly infection, I think it's a Stella cherry, my daughter bought it for my birthday about five years ago......but the past two years she's just been attacked really hard with the darn things,( the tree, not the daughter...lol ).
I've bought some borax, so will give the ant traps ago....but have honestly not seen one ant anywhere near her. The pear & Apple tree don't get touched..just the cherry tree.

**Kirk** · 29-03-2015, 06:34 PM

I have a feeling mine is a Stella as well, description and details match, slight doubt. Self fertile and dark red being the one and a little later in the season.

As said it is the one single item in the garden that I really need to consider getting a chemical for. Will say it appears very detrimental to the tree the amount of imfestation.

To some extent it is fortunate that the blossom and the leaves do not coincide, so it is able to flower, pollinate then leaves appear, then blackfly then a spray.

**Jungle Jane** · 29-03-2015, 06:48 PM

Originally posted by Sheilakins View Post

Thanks guys, I've just ordered some Bug clear in the hope that I can get rid of the little blighters if they appear this year

Aphids overwinter on nearby perennials,check the underside of leaves on shrubs & prune out bad infestations,they can't fly yet so easy to control if found. An aphid adult can produce 80 offspring a week,this is where it can get out of control. Catch them early. I found a lot of aphid larvae last year on a nearby shrubs new growth,so pruned it away,squashed it all. Look out for ladybirds & their larvae if you're spraying,aphids are a good food source for them. I squirt aphids with soap & water (some people use garlic cloves crushed into the water too) as soon as I see them on anything I can't prune (eg my potato plants last year,keeping on top of it daily keeps it under control). I cant see a difference using chemicals makes in the way that in both ways you're squirting the aphids off the plant & they don't like it. Bees feed off of the sap that comes out of the aphid-that black stuff. If you squirt bug clear on it,this won't remove the black sap but may harm a bee who feeds from it. Spraying without chemicals is more time consuming but I've got a lot of beneficial insects in the garden,if I used chemicals,I don't know if they'd all be there still?

**Kirk** · 30-03-2015, 05:52 PM

Problem I have and I suspect Sheilakins may also have is that spraying with anything less then a fire hose on full will not penetrate enough to dislodge an aphid.

In my case it is not a curled leaf it is a tightly clumped, distorted discoloured fist of leaves. I have in some years found it "easier" to cut the clumps off the tree. However over about seven feet I am stuck.

Also and don't take this wrong but why is soap and water "natural", ever seen the chemical plants that produce soap, when does fairy liquid solution rain from the sky?

Soap is made from fatty acids and a strong alkali, usually sodium hydroxide, (oven cleaner and drain unblocker) it cleans a person by chemically stripping the top skin layer off.

**Sheilakins** · 30-03-2015, 09:14 PM

Originally posted by Kirk View Post

I have a feeling mine is a Stella as well, description and details match, slight doubt. Self fertile and dark red being the one and a little later in the season.

As said it is the one single item in the garden that I really need to consider getting a chemical for. Will say it appears very detrimental to the tree the amount of imfestation.

To some extent it is fortunate that the blossom and the leaves do not coincide, so it is able to flower, pollinate then leaves appear, then blackfly then a spray.

This the one my daughter bought it a few years back for my birthday, but we put it in the ground rather then a tub/pot.

Dwarf Cherry 'Compact Stella' | Fruit & Veg from Bakker Spalding Garden Company

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