Scale on citrus

Kath says...
Sue this is very interesting as I am currently on the same mission and have been feeling very smug since I set up my Vaseline bands about 4 weeks ago, so far they are working very well and the recent rain is washing all the sooty mould off the leaves of my finger lime tree which is looking healthier than it has all year. This is how I made my bands. I wrapped some grafting tape around the trunk of my tree in a band about 6 cm wide. I used this in particular as it stretches so it will not ring bark my tree and it breaks down and is easy to remove. Plumbing tape would work in the same way. I then smeared a 1 cm thick 2cm long band of Vaseline all the way around the trunk of any trees in my orchard with ant activity or scale. Citrus and star apples are particularly attractive to scale so these had the most ant activity. My ants were stumped immediately, it took a few days for them to all fall or drop out of the trees but there is not longer any movement of ants up and down the trunks of my trees. Make sure there are no other access points for the ants like stakes or nearby trees that are touching as they will move onto these highways if they can. I anticipate replacing them every month and will move them up and down the truck of the tree when I do this so as to not damage the stem in any way.

Kath says...
Sue, I have discovered that my partner has also been spraying our trees with white oil while I am not looking. So together we are succeeding in our battle against the ants and scale. Our ants do not seem to have moved the vaseline yet but we may have different types of ants to you. A blast with a high pressure hose usually works on the crawlers and will clean up any sooty mould and dead scale also.

Correy says...
Here are some great photos of how to rid ants from your fruit trees. There is also a blog on this subject now:

Blog: Ants And Fruit Trees

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2	Picture: 3
Picture: 4

Dekka says...
I had a similar problem with a Grapefruit and a Wax Jambu and used Vicks instead of Vasolene and the ants won't go anywhere near it; lasts for ages and tree doesn't appear to be affected. I'll wait and see if the fruit tastes like Vaporub.

John says...
Correy, I can get away with using it on a 3 month cycle. We are on basicly sand or what I call beach sand. Everything leaches right through and doesnt last for long. Coffee is leathal to snails in particular and slugs. We get inundated with little white snails, '000 per tree. So the coffee is required. However, for quality soils only use it as required. Its toxic to worms and the other good stuff in the soil. Overdosing consistenly may serilize the area. I've been using about 2 cups spread in a circle around my trees about a foot from the trunk for ten plus years.

Sue says...
I was told the vasaline around the base does not work as the ants climb over one another as they become stuck in the vasaline, and use each other as a bridge.
It makes sense to me.