Simple, natural tip to keep citrus trees free of Ants and Aphids

Ants and aphids are symbyotic - when you have a problem with one you almost always have a problem with the other!

That is because ants like to "farm" the little aphids for their juicy nectar.  That juicy nectar comes from the aphids attacking the leaves and branches of trees, especially citrus trees.  Which of course, is not good for the tree or its fruit.

My kaffir lime tree and orange tree are for some reason a favorite of the ants-aphid combo, while the Meyer lemon and sweet lime tree tend to go unnoticed by the little buggars.  No worries, because after a lot of trial and error I've found the perfect way to keep the ants off.  And without the ants, the aphids can relax and stop attacking the tree so intensively.  

The solution for me has been food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE).  Not the DE from the swimming pool aisle (those are bigger crystals which don't work and can be dangerous for humans), but food grade DE.  It is a natural mineral powder made of ground-up fossils that ants, and most other insects for that matter, can't stand.  They instantly reroute and will not cross a line of the DE, or as we call it at our house now...Magic Dust.

Food grade Diatomaceous Earth can be tricky to find, but is well worth the hunt. Most farm supply stores carry it, because farmers often feed it to chickens to help their digestion.  A pound is only a dollar or so, so it is very economical!  Home Depot and Lowes don't seem to carry it, at least not that I've found.  

I've read a lot about food grade DE, and haven't found any negative health effects to humans aside from inhalation of the dust which irritates the lungs...just like any dust we inhale would.  I guess a dust mask would be a good idea, for the lawyers out there...

So...back to the ants...

To stop ants from crawling up the citrus tree, simply put a heavy dusting of DE onto the trunk of the tree.  It should be spread onto an area a few inches wide, and all around the tree, so that there aren't any secret passageways for the ants where coverage was missed.

The DE will stay effective as long as it stays dry.  It needs to be reapplied after a rain or if it gets hit during watering, but otherwise will instantly stop the ants.  Without chemicals, without insecticides, just with a physical barrier of "Magic Dust".