Black/Green fly on apples

Have you had any more luck with this? We have two dwarf apple trees (Bountiful and Red Falstaff) that are 2 and 3 years old. The Bountiful tree is always overrun with aphids and ants farming them, whereas the Falstaff one is usually clear There have also been woolly aphids on the Bountiful tree.

Like you, I'm worried that it's stunting the tree's growth and productivity. We've got six fruits on that tree, and most of them are a good size, but they look rather lumpy and deformed to me. I've tried squishing the aphids and blasting them with a hose from time to time, but with little success. I've also tried putting cinnamon powder around the base of the tree because that's been really effective at getting rid of ants from our house, but it tends to wash away with watering or rain. So I'm a bit stumped!

I have noticed that things have got a lot better since the weather broke a few days ago - I think.the ants really love the heatwave we've been having. I've also noticed lots more ladybirds around in the last week, so fingers crossed that it's not not too late for them to gobble up all the aphids...

I think the greenfly etc are more of a symptom than the cause of the problem. Young apple trees need feeding at the roots and a reasonable amount of moisture when they are growing in the summer to in order to stay healthy .

The feeding is best taken care of with a good half barrow load of stable manure per tree spread round the soil near the trees but not touching the trunk in the winter/early spring .

In the case of gingerneil your trees being against a wall is good from a protection/ ripening pov but it does mean watering in the Summer is always going to be an issue as the base of walls are notoriously dry spots in a garden - I'd suggest putting in some sort of semi-permanent soaker hose or drip irrigation system which you can adjust depending on how hot/dry the weather is. Or just run a hosepipe under each tree for half an hour each week so that the water really soaks the ground in the Summer.

For others reading this similar thoughts apply and if your trees are growing in grass then make sure that it is cleared away for a distance of about 3' from the base of the trunk in a circle.

BTW these problems get easier as the trees get bigger and send their roots out further looking for water and obviously the weather makes a big difference each year.