Apple Tree Help?

I have 2 apple trees and both are suffering..the leaves/blooms are curling up like they are burnt and on the underneath side there are 1000's of very tiny little green bugs..a little bigger than a flea. I believe they are aphids but not for sure.

What can we do? It looks like they are killing the tree FAST.

reply to post by Neopan100


Sounds like aphids. You can try spraying the tree with a mixture of dish soap and water to try to fight them. Another thing you can do is plant garlic in a perimeter around the base of the tree. Aphids hate garlic for some reason (maybe they worry about bad breath?) so planting some after you get them off would be a good idea. Planting garlic around anything that is prone to aphids is a great natural repellant. Hope this helps.

Something else just popped in my head, too. Ladybugs. You should be able to find ladybugs at a good garden center for sale. Releasing them around the tree also would be a good deterrent as ladybugs thoroughly enjoy eating aphids.

Wash the plants with insecticidal soap according to the package directions. Insecticidal soap is a safe, highly refined form of liquid soap that washes aphids, honeydew buildup and other debris off plant leaves without harming naturally beneficial insects. Wash the soap off with a forceful spray of water from a garden hose.

Spray all-season horticultural oils onto trees with a pump sprayer as soon as the aphids appear. Horticultural oil is labeled as an insecticide; use it according to the label directions. The oil works by suffocating the insects, as well as disrupting the development of their eggs.

Purchase and release natural enemies of aphids, such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps, into the orchard or garden. These insects feed off of aphids or their eggs and help regulate the infestation. Follow manufacturer recommendations regarding the number needed to populate the orchard or garden, as well as package directions for releasing the beneficial insects.

Good Luck...

Thank you guys for all the suggestions. We are going to try some of these after the rain stops..hopefully, it works and these little boogers will be gone!

I'll be planting apple trees this year (yes, even in FL, just have to have the right varieties, there are 4 that grow here), and already plan on planting garlic around the base for just this very thing. Good luck on your problem.

Purchase and release natural enemies of aphids, such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps

We do this with wasps all the time for preventing flies around the stables. They work pretty well.