We just noticed rust on our apple tree the other day, since weve heard of using colloidal products as a form of disease control we decided to give it a shot, so far it does not look like its working, but sometimes in life, it gets worse before it gets better. The one issue I was not happy with was how a local ant colony seemed to be feeding off these rust lesions, I tried (orange guard) which was suppose to work on ants + the aphids they were hoarding, it did not work. I tried hot pepper spray, they went away and then came back in ten fold. Frustrated, I tried many different ways until I came up with an idea to try a product I had all but given up on ( at least for bug prevention )
Diatomaceous earth - I figured I had enough lying around I would give it a shot, as soon as I dusted the tree I could see the exodus. By the next day it was empty of ants and only a few aphids remained. By the third day, I noticed a few determined ants had somehow made there way to the very top where the Dia earth had mostly dispersed from wind gusts. There determination is impressive to say the least, but necessary intervention is paramount in order to save the health of the tree and the production of its fruit. I grow many other plants for them to gorge on, so they should have plenty of options for dining, just not on the fruit trees.
