Apples again

Of the ten apple tree grafts I did two years ago, the five on standard rootstock survived and I have four of them. (The five on dwarfing rootstock all died.) About ten days ago I noticed that one had a bad attack of leaf-curl and on closer inspection I realised that it was smothered in aphids. However there were also lots of ants which I thought might be keeping the aphids under control so I left them to it while I went to read up on ants and aphids. Well... the ants were keeping the aphids under control but not in the way I'd assumed.

Aphids feed on plant sap and secrete 'honeydew' and it seems that ants eat the honeydew and farm the aphids to produce more. I'd been hoping ladybirds would eat the aphids but ants keep ladybirds and other aphid predators away.

So I went back on the attack. Most of the aphids were the same colour as the stems and young leaves but the presence of the black ants made it much easier to find them and so far it seems that my morning and evening blitzes have mostly kept the aphids away from the other three trees.

Once the builders have moved out and I've reclaimed the garden I'll be transplanting only one tree from its tub into my garden and I had thought that I'd keep the one with the nicest shape. But looking at the uneven distribution of baby apples (none of which I expect to reach maturity on trees so young) I think I might keep the most prolific fruiter.