TanglefootInsect Barrier (Tub), 15 oz.

bugs like earwigs, coddling moths, ants, buggy bugs crawl up the tree trunks to infest your fruit. One foot on this tacky stuff holds them in place.

Perfect product for sticking bugs to your traps and guards. Too bad this item is getting really hard to find.

I really hate having to use this product. It’s obviously gooey and very sticky which makes it a pain to apply. It’s also why it works so well. The nasty carpenter ants have been running a very productive aphid farm on my cherry trees for the last two years. I tried just spraying water to clear the issue but the ants made sure to replace their ‘livestock’ and keep the ladybugs from doing their jobs. Not one to use chemicals, I decided to give tanglefoot a try. I placed rings of duck tape (sticky side facing out!) around my trees and coated them with the stuff using a disposable plastic knife. I also coated any lines tied to the branches anchoring them to the ground—leave no paths available to the bugs. With heat and rain the tanglefoot does run down a bit but though unsightly it does not harm the tree. I plan on removing the tape in June (after 2 months) but will continue to monitor and replace it a few inches higher or lower if needed—gotta let the bark breathe. So far no ants on my trees and the ladybugs are free to devour any aphids they find, though I hardly see any anymore.👍🏼

Good

Item is as described

If you live somewhere where it gets to triple digits*YOU MUST USE FLAGGING TAPE UNDERNEATH IT*, and also remember to apply BEFORE THE SUMMER HITS.I'm in phoenix, and I wrapped my fig trees in rags and then tree guard tape [which is sort of semi-permeable, I realized later]. The triple digits melted this stuff to soak through, and it girdled every tree I used it on. I killed my fig trees. They had to start over from the roots.EON farm (near phoenix) uses it with great success, but they apply it earlier in the spring ON PLASTIC FLAGGING TAPE so that it does not soak through and into the bark.

What's not to love about this stuff? It does exactly what you expect, and then some.I am using it indoors. I had never used it before, or anything like it, so my primary concern was toxicity and off gassing inside a living space. It turns out that there is nothing whatsoever to be concerned of. I'm not saying you should eat it, but besides that it's completely safe for indoor use.My issue is bed bugs. My personal preference is to stay away from toxic chemicals, which leaves natural and non-toxic alternatives. Such as diatomaceous earth and sticky pads. Both of which work great, but do come with inherent limitations. Like the fact that it takes a few minutes to a few hours for the critter to die off once it's been exposed. Unfortunately, if you're dealing with a pregnant critter that leaves them enough time to squirt out their eggs leaving you yet another generation of pests to deal with.Regardless of what you might read on the bottles, there is no such thing as instant bed bug eradication. They are just too small and they can hide virtually anywhere. So there is simply no way to hunt them all down before they bite you.FYI, it's the egg-laying you should be worried about, not the biting.So here's the trick. They hunt by sensing your body heat and your exhaled breath. Which is why they seem to focus on your bed area, because after all it's the one place were you remain relatively still for up to eight hours a day. Then consider the fact that they can cross any room in your house in less than 20 minutes. So instead of trying to avoid them, allow yourself to become their bait. But what they don't know, and can never prepare for, is that you have laid a trap from which there is no escape. It's really the only way that works: instead of going to them, have a plan for when they come to you.Here's what I did. I took a roll of 2" wide double sided carpet tape and used it to cover the baseboards and room corners around the footprint of my queen size bed. I also laid a couple of strips directly under the bed. I was very generous with the placement of the tape, and used up about 70 of the 90 ft roll. The idea is to create a barrier which any bug would have to cross in order to reach their meal.I then used a cheap disposable plastic putty knife, and slathered the tape with the Tanglefoot mixture. The result is a sticky barrier that a small dog would have trouble walking through, much less a pea sized bed bug.I also use bed bug coaster traps filled with diatomaceous earth under the four bed posts. Which make a fantastic kill trap, but are not instant and do not necessarily prevent the bed bugs from traveling further. It does guarantee a kill, but it does not guarantee an instant kill. The trick here is to be very generous with the DE so that the bug is guaranteed full exposure to the powder. The better the exposure, the quicker the kill.Between the sticky barrier and the bed bug coaster traps, about all that is left are bugs that might accidentally fall from the ceiling. So in other words, I feel at this point I am 99% protected. I know the bugs are still here, and I know they are still hunting me, but I also know what waits for them when they finally get hungry enough to head my way.