>>1242388I have to use 1250mm steel mesh guards around each tree to keep the deer off. In the mid summer storms, many of my one and two year trees got damaged from being blown and rubbed against their steel mesh. After that I put pipe insulation around the tops of them, inside the insulation there is a cavity which was rapidly colonised by earwigs which it turns out, eat aphids.
>pic related, a perry pear tree I planted this winter which has the tubing from the get go. I'm hoping this curtails early aphid outbreaks. Keeping the sward down probably also helps as it makes it harder for the ants to come and go with impunity. I didn't bother to do it last year until mid summer, which might also explain why aphids were not present later in the year.
