tanglefoot direct application experiment

[Epicatt2]

Update - do not use "coflex" / rubber-stretch-gauze for this!   after a few days the tanglefoot was absorbed into the gauze material, causing it to lose stickiness and unwind, and the tanglefoot soaked through to the bark.  So now I have direct tanglefoot on all my tree trunks.  I guess I am now "all in" on this experiment.

Wow, the CoFlex sounded promising but not a compatible option with the tanglefoot, after all.

That's really too bad.

Later,

Paul M.
==

[EricSC]

I always have ants and snail problems.   Based on the discussion here, I tried two items below: paint tape, and Vaseline, both purchased from dollar store.

The paint tape is applied with the non-sticky side toward the tree bark.  Then smear the Vaseline to the tape.  By this way, the vaseline has no contact with the bark.   It seems that the ant trail stopped for now.   The Vaseline may have to be reapplied once awhile when the dust accumulates that ants can walk over.    If the the paint tape gets too tight due the tree trunk expands, I will have to cut the tape and reapply the Vaseline.
 

[strom]

Update - do not use "coflex" / rubber-stretch-gauze for this!   after a few days the tanglefoot was absorbed into the gauze material, causing it to lose stickiness and unwind, and the tanglefoot soaked through to the bark.  So now I have direct tanglefoot on all my tree trunks.  I guess I am now "all in" on this experiment.

Oh no   Can you remove the tanglefoot from the bark?  i did a quick search, seems like mineral spirits or other degreasers would work, but I'd be concerned about it hurting the tree.

[kumin]

Not wanting to lead you down yet another wrong path, I personally would try to remove the Tanglefoot with a fairly benign vegetable oil, such as olive oil, then wash it off using dilute soapy water, finally rinsing/flushing with straight water. I use this process to remove dirty grease from my hands. The process continually progresses from more harmful to less harmful. I would try to keep the affected area as small as possible, perhaps, with the use of a masking tape boundary. However, avoid peeling off the bark when removing the tape!

[brian]

It has been seven and a half months.  Today I removed the tree to replace it with a Shasta Gold.  Here are the final pictures of the tanglefoot area.  You'll see that the tree was totally unharmed by it - neither the small green twig nor the main limb had any damage and kept growing normally.  The tanglefoot had become blackened, but when I wiped it off a bit you can see the bark underneath looks fine. 

None of the other trees had any issues either.  I think it is pretty safe to say that applying tanglefoot directly to trunks is fine.

[orangedays]

-Do you feet the tangle foot server its purpose? I never felt it was that much help, but then most of my insect problems are from flyers.

[shaneatwell]

Been meaning to reply to this thread. I've done this for a few years on jaboticaba with no ill effects, but i did it on an avocado last year and it ended up burning a stripe on the tree and probably will kill it. Trying a bridge graft to save it, but not optimistic.

[brian]

Tanglefoot works great against ants, but is useless at stopping mealybug and spider mites.  I was thinking maybe they were re-infesting from the ground after I sprayed the trees, but they must be coming from eggs in the trees because I never saw any stuck in the tanglefoot.

Shaneatwell, glad you reported your experience.  Despite the seeming safety of this I am still a bit wary of trying it on other species.

[EricSC]

Local and short-distance dispersal of mealybugs is facilitated by air currents, ant movements, farm labourers and farm implements. Long-range dispersal/movement of mealybugs is usually accomplished by transport of infested plant material.

Spider mites would do the same.

Tanglefoot works great against ants, but is useless at stopping mealybug and spider mites.  I was thinking maybe they were re-infesting from the ground after I sprayed the trees, but they must be coming from eggs in the trees because I never saw any stuck in the tanglefoot.

Shaneatwell, glad you reported your experience.  Despite the seeming safety of this I am still a bit wary of trying it on other species.

[kbanks]

Brian is write that survey flagging is easy and stretches with tree growth. if the bark is roughly furrowed you can fare it out with acrylic caulk and let dry before applying flagging tape. will not harm tree