Willow aphids at plague levels

[OneMoreForExtra]

Black, leg-waving, honeydew pooing, sooty mould growing, wasp-attracting little buggers. I'm normally very live and live but this is turning the willow den into a no-go waspy plague zone. I've hand-transferred ladybirds, painted them with vodka, blasted them off with the hose and the numbers just keep growing. Any tips for restoring the balance?

Have you tried mentally summoning blue tits?

It's that, or spraying them with detergenty water. Washing up liquid, shampoo etc -they all work. Or chop and burn.

I'm doing a blue tit summoning dance now...

Have tried to stay clear of anything that also kills the good guys but my washing up liquid bottle is looking pretty tempting...

Oh that's bad. Can you keep at it? I get kitchen roll and gloves and squish as many as I can. The kitchen roll is soaked in the feckers but it's seemed to have helped. And added some organic matter to compost...Then water it a bit and pray!

I did try that earlier in the outbreak (quite satisfying in a murderous way), but every third branch now has a slick of them and I probably haven't the heart - or the kitchen roll supplies!

Grudging respect for the aphids - I actually see them marching back up the branches when I've blasted them all off.

I feel badly let down by the ladybirds. Cmon, this is an epic buffet, why aren't you here feasting?

Yeah I don't actually do the killing myself. I just wait and hope. But thought if you'd tried vodka, then you're in the killing zone already.

Buy more ladybirds?