North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jwlehman@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/14/2005 7:14:36 AM US Eastern Standard Time, jfruth@uslink.net writes:
>   I learned, the hard way, that tanglefoot will/can girdle a tree, even a
> tree with crusted scalely bark.  It softens bark and, eventually, penetrates
> to the inner bark.  And I thought I wasn't putting very much on
.


I've only used it on persimmon trunks to keep especially ants out during the pollinating period when hand pollinating. The flowers I'm taken selected pollen to are bagged to keep bees from bringing in stray pollen. Ants can get in even though the bags are tied. Mr. Claypool used to place cotton at the tying point to make a tight fit. I've found it much easier to use Tanglefoot around the tree in a wide band keeping them out of the tree. And have used the same banded area two and three years in a row.         

>From one year to the next only a dark ring is left, all the tanglefoot disintegrates. Have had no problems like you describe with persimmon. Could you have been using bird tanglefoot as opposed to tree tanglefoot? 

Jerry