is washing up liquid ok for fruit trees

[catodo2001]

hi all
i was told that instead of using pesterside on my fruit trees that i should use washing up liquid now before i start giving my trees a washing is this true or are they pulling my leg, and if it is true how much washing liquid do i use and does it have to be plain or lemon ok thanks gang
mike

[zazen999]

Hi
What pests have you got?

[Two_Sheds]

It's normal to spray aphids with a soft soap solution.

Don't be just washing your trees every day in Fairy though

[Flummery]

Not in neat liquid, but it certainly helps to see off the greenfly if you spray or liberally water with a drop or two of washing up liquid in your water. I sometimes let the washing up water go cold and use that. But then, I do live in Yorkshire!

[catodo2001]

hi zazen999
just before all the leaves fell off some little buggers have been eating the leaves on the tree's mostly the cherry tree and there was like a brown jelly stuff that was in the corner where the branch comes from the trunk
thanks mike

[FB.]

The brown jelly could be canker. It can be a troubling problem for cherries. I doubt that washing up liquid will treat canker, but I don't grow cherries, so I can't be sure!
Weak solutions of washing up liquid can be used to combat aphids, but it's almost as easy just to blast the aphids off with the spray gun, or a water pistol. Then repeat a few days later.
Most of the time, aphids end up eventually getting eaten by predators (hoverfly larvae, ladybirds, lacewing larvae, birds), so I try to let nature do what it wants. Sometimes I'll move hoverfly larvae to where they're needed, but ants will guard the aphids from insect predators.

I once put a fairly large hoverfly larva near to an aphid colony. Within a minute, an ant was investigating the new arrival. The ant disappeared and a couple of minutes later, came back with a platoon of his friends.
After a couple of minutes of fighting, the ants bit and bundled off the hoverfly larva, which fell onto the ground with a couple of ants still attached and biting.

Regarding leaves being eaten....
I was told that plants produce chemical defences where leaves are eaten or damaged, which deters caterpillars from eating more of that leaf - so the caterpillars move on. Apparently, lost of slightly-damaged leaves can actually be a sign that the plant is fighting back.
If an attack is severe, just pick off the insects by hand and squash them. Otherwise, I'd leave them, if they're not causing too much harm.

[kitchengardner]

hi zazen999
just before all the leaves fell off some little buggers have been eating the leaves on the tree's mostly the cherry tree and there was like a brown jelly stuff that was in the corner where the branch comes from the trunk
thanks mike

If you have got aphids or blacklfy a weak solution of washing liquid sprayed on does help but it does sound like canker which is bad news

Regards

Kitchen Gardener

[catodo2001]

what is canker and how do i get rid of them thanks mike

[BrideXIII]

not used it on trees, i don't have any, but i swear by it for aphids and whitefly, i use it on my one rose bush, and ALL my chillies and peppers, ants get in my chillies and 'farm' aphids on them, so i spray with weak washing up solution, it also gets rid of the whitefly so they dont make all that sticky stuff that other bugs like.

[SlugLobber]

Canker is a disease which requires pruning back to way before the diseased part, as infection starts before the visible gooey bit. If your's is at the join with the trunk, then it's bad news, as you have to chop the trunk down! I would get a tree surgeon to take a look and give an accurate diagnosis, before taking drastic action.

I recycle my washing up liquid in the summer on roses, beans, fruit trees and courgettes. Certainly helps to keep pests at bay, in particular black fly on french beans!

[catodo2001]

thanks sluglobber
i will do that and thanks for the info it helps a great deal
mike