Managing Aphids on Apple Trees

[James Littleton]

Dear All, 

Apologies for accidentally weaving my previous post into the thread on bottling. 

I have recently joined this forum and am on a steep learning curve regarding orchard management, and in due course, cider making. For the past 4.5 years i have been planting a cider apple orchard on our family farm in Gloucestershire (UK). The farm was a cider farm up until the 1940s when my grandfather switched to dairy. My aim is to gradually turn about 10 acres back to orchards. Thus far i have planted about 2 acres (270 trees). 

Can anyone advise on organic methods to manage aphids? Some of my trees seem to be under sustained assault from aphids despite giving the trees a winter wash, keeping the verges semi wild to attract predators like ladybirds etc. Is companion planting with garlic, onions a partial solution? 

Any advice would be much appreciated. 

Cheers, 

James 

[Eric Tyira]

Don't consider aphids a problem. They are a symptom.

Stefen Sobkowiak at Miracle Farms in Canada would tell you that aphids are attracted to high levels of nitrogen in a plant. You can watch his movie The Permaculture Orchard - Beyond Organic for a descriptor. He tells the story of a woman that has multiple apple trees but one is constantly under attack by aphids. He eventually learns that the husband walks out every morning to relieve himself and he pees in the same spot under the same tree.

Dr. Thomas Dykstra educates people on the brix levels in plant tissue and how that corresponds to insect resistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnNOvA3diDU

The brix levels in plants is an easy measurement of how "healthy" a plant is. It's like measuring the oxygen levels in our blood. If the brix level is low, the plant is not getting the nutrients it needs. When it's not getting the proper nutrients, it becomes susceptible to attack. Aphids are the lowest level of attack, so I would suspect very low brix levels in the leaves.

How do you boost the brix levels in the trees? Adequate water, sunlight and nutrients. Let's skip water and sunlight assuming you can install drip irrigation and prune properly. That leaves nutrition.

What's the soil PH?

What food are the trees getting?

How are they fed?

Is the soil "alive" or just dirt?

What are the rootstock?

If this was a former dairy farm, would I be wrong suspecting a buildup of cow by-products in the soil?

How fast are the trees growing? (cm or inches per year)

Eric

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[Lisa Pedersen]

Good morning all,

Just wanting to chime in as well regarding aphids and other pests that appear to attack the weakest of the apple trees. We have a 10 acre orchard in the San Juan Islands in WA. From what I read, and I agree with Eric, that the aphid is not the problem but the symptom of a tree that is struggling. Apparently, trees that are in a weaker state due to conditions described, will put out a distress signal to “come and attack me” to aphids, tent caterpillars, and various other pests that take advantage of a defenseless tree. Very much in the same way an immune deficient person catches all the colds while the healthier person seems to defend itself quite easily and does not succumb.

One of the ways to help build defenses for our wonderful apple trees is by applying foliar sprays fortified by live microorganisms. There are a few ways to apply these helpful critters if you don’t have a proper spray set up. A soil drench or injection method of applying a tea brimming with live microorganisms will give your tree a level of defense. Aphids will encounter these little defenders and back off. I just went through a few acres of trees last night and picked off tent caterpillars that in most cases, find housing on my weaker trees. 

Lisa Pedersen

Orcas Isle Farm

Sent from my iPhone

On May 23, 2023, at 6:34 AM, Eric Tyira <secretc...@lostruinswinery.com> wrote:



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[sdiesen]

Lisa 

Can you mention a foliar spray to use ?  I too have noticed the weaker trees being prone to disease and caterpillars.  I am on San Juan Island. 

Suzy

 

 

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From: Lisa <lisamari...@gmail.com>
To: cider-workshop <cider-w...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2023 7:09 AM PDT
Subject: Re: [Cider Workshop] Managing Aphids on Apple Trees

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[Per Buhre]

Hi. 

A lot of insects that kill aphids also needs nectar so it is a good idea to have flowers, herbs and the like close by. 

Spraying with neem oil is also a good idea. 

And staying away from exessive fertilizing.

Some levels of aphids could be good for the tree since it activates the defense system. I’ve heard. 

I have had a lot if young trees that had heavy aphid attacs one year and is totally fine now. It just cuts back a year of growt. 

But I am no expert. Good luck. 

Skickat från min iPhone

23 maj 2023 kl. 18:10 skrev sdiesen <sdi...@wavecable.com>:



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[Les Price]

Good advice here from all. I too use a lot of green tea, compost tea sprays and this time of year the orchard will be getting them almost weekly. These are very good for building up your trees immune system. 

You can use aphid predators that you purchase and release. The best one I've used is the aphid midge. Problem with any of this is cost. For an outdoor release you would need massive amounts to ensure success. Sometimes the success can be surprising though. I did a release of aphid midge in my citrus greenhouse, which the doors are open on sunny days, and eventually not only did all the aphids disappear from the greenhouse but also from the plum trees outside the greenhouse. The midges continued to naturalize away from the house until they ran out of aphids.

There are organic insecticides too. I don't have much experience with these except the old timers like soap and neem but now there are modern bioinsecticides that are very effective,  so I've heard.

The companion planting idea is sound I just don't think it's going to have much effect on full size trees. I've been a commercial garlic grower for 30 years and I have learned about interplanting aphid susceptible veggies in the garlic beds. Favorite ones to do are artichokes, peppers, eggplant. Not one aphid!

Keeping native hedgerows is great and also if you have open grass land next to the orchard, leave a grass strip unmowed for the year as habitat for insects.

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[mannp...@gmail.com]

I also struggle with aphids. I appreciate the holistic view and working to improve the general health of the trees and ecosystem; but sometimes an intervention is required. Severe infestation can stunt young trees significantly. 

In my case the problem is not aphids but ants, which farm the aphids and also protect them from their natural predators. A judicious application of glue to the trunk works wonders. I know glue is generally frowned upon, but I don't observe many insects getting inadvertently stuck; and it's the only thing that will reliably stop the ants. Once the ants are excluded, the aphids can be dealt with by mechanical removal or allowing natural predators to do the job.

Long story short: see if you have ants running up and down your trees and deal with those first.

Patrick
1785 Cider

[Andy Andy]

Borax as powder form will stop ants.

[James Littleton]

Dear All, 

Thank you for taking the time to respond and offering very helpful advice re the aphids attacks on my apple trees. I have sprayed with horticultural soap and plan to do a foliar spray with seaweed extract at the weekend. 

The video in Brix levels was very informative in terms of assessing the health of trees - thank you for sharing, Eric. 

Re feeding my trees, i sprinkled handfuls of fish, blood and bone in late March around all trees which have been in the ground for more than two years. In hindsight this may have been a mistake and next year i aim to feed in late autumn once the trees have gone into dormant mode. The soil is very much alive - plenty of worms and an organic mulch (strulch) has been applied to each tree. All trees are on MM106 rootstock. Growth is decent - last year most of the trees put on average growth of about 30-40cmcm per branch/shoot. 

The field had cows in it for over 50 years so there is significant build-up of by-product in the soil - is this a bad thing? 

Best, 

James

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[Lisa Pedersen]

Hi Suzy,

I am new to this approach so I will share what I have learned. Firstly, I attended the Agricultural Summit this year on your island and took a soil class. One of the gals who taught the class, Andrea Bierce, is a soil consultant. She studied under Dr. Elaine Ingram from Soil Food Web. Check out links below that goes into more detail. One of the issues with spraying with a garden sprayer is that the microbes which are live, get mutilated while being shot out of the hose and sprayer. Dr. Ingram has developed a sprayer that is sold at a company called GroKing ( see link below). I have just purchased one of these special hose and sprayer attachments that will sit on my old tank ( 60 gallon)  and I am going to prepare a compost tea with compost Ill fetch over on Lopez Island ( Midnight Farm). Andrea Bierce will assist me in brewing a tea made from this special compost as well as some worm castings. I would imagine there are other ways of getting the microorganisms delivered to the trees so I mentioned delivering them via a soil drench OR there are injection methods that you’d usher down into holes around each tree. There are a myriad of concentrated preparations that you could purchase and add water and then add to each tree well. The composted tea that is prepared at my farm will be labor intensive, yet I have 1500 trees so purchasing prepared concentrated preparations might end up being too expensive.

 The point is, getting the little microbes in and around the apple trees to arm them. One thing to remember is that foliar sprays would ideally be done a few times a year so this is an investment of time and equipment of course. All this we do to inoculate and add a layer of defense to the trees. If you have the Michael Phillips book, The Holistic Orchard, you could view a microscopic photo of a single leaf surface that is covered in microorganism activity. Super cool!!!!! Page 15. 

Good luck Suzy!

Lisa Pedersen

Orcas Isle Farm

https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/08/16/foliar-application-microbial/  This is just one site I looked at that has foliar spray preparations. There are many online………..

https://www.soilfoodweb.com/

https://www.gro-king-sprayers.com/

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[Casey Dahl]

Do you know what species of aphid you have?  I'm in the midwestern US and the main ones are green apple aphid, rosy apple aphid, and wooly apple aphid.  They all have different life cycles and management aspects to consider.  I think the first step is to figure out what exactly you're dealing with and find out it's reproductive cycle and habitat needs.

For example, I have rosy apple aphids to deal with.  They start feeding and laying eggs after bloom and during fruit set.  They feed on the branch tips and fruit clusters.  They only feed for a couple weeks and then leave.  But, their feeding will stunt the growth for the entire season.  Fruit clusters where they fed will never size up and the apples will be marble sized at harvest.  If you read about how to deal with aphids in general you often hear that you should spray a dormant oil to smother the overwintering eggs on the tree.  But, rosy apple aphid doesn't overwinter on the trees.  They spend their summers on plantain in the understory and surrounding area.  That's where their eggs hatch from in spring and they then migrate to the trees.  Without knowing that you could be spraying something needlessly at the wrong time to no effect.  

I have a higher threshold for aphids than many orchard growers but I understand that there are times when an intervention is necessary, especially for young trees as aphid damage can really screw up early training that is so important.  Insecticidal soap is a good aphid spray that is less damaging to beneficial insects.  Don't try to make your own.  Buy one that is formulated to work and not burn leaf tissue.  I tend to avoid neem.  It is very broad spectrum and kills/injures a much higher number of insects vs insecticidal soap.  It's unfortunate that it has become such a widely used spray among growers looking for a more natural approach as it has become the knee jerk reaction to spray it even when a more benign option is available. 

Also, be cautious of companion planting and compost tea/microbial sprays.  Trying to do companion planting on 10 acres would be costly and a management nightmare.  Most information on companion planting and microbial teas are anecdotal and often come from very small properties that have low pest pressure due to their low number of trees.  In fact, there is more scientific evidence that compost teas have little to no effect on plant growth or health.  It's sad to see so many well intentioned people start orchards, invest tons of money in specialty compost tea brewers and special sprayers only to produce unmarketable fruit and quit growing.  Or worse, tell people it's "impossible" to grow fruit organically and thus perpetuate the current industrial food system. 

Reach out to other growers in your area and look for field days through grower networks.  It's so important to understanding the unique aspects of growing where you are that is often missed in the wider literature.      

[jrlitt...@gmail.com]

Hi Casey, 

They look like rosey apple aphid and started laying eggs immediately after the blossom came out.

Sent from my iPad

On May 24, 2023, at 18:35, Casey Dahl <case...@gmail.com> wrote:

Do you know what species of aphid you have?  I'm in the midwestern US and the main ones are green apple aphid, rosy apple aphid, and wooly apple aphid.  They all have different life cycles and management aspects to consider.  I think the first step is to figure out what exactly you're dealing with and find out it's reproductive cycle and habitat needs.

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[sdiesen]

Thank you for your answer.  I will be sure to lookat all of your references.  

Suzy

 

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From: Lisa <lisamari...@gmail.com>
To: cider-workshop <cider-w...@googlegroups.com>

Date: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 10:03 AM PDT

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