Aphid infestation on damson tree

[Fevertree]

Evening all, I'm hoping i can get some advice please. I have a damson tree on my garden in a large pot that has a serious case of aphids. I have washed all the leaves with washing up liquid and also applied double sided silver tape in the meantime to hopefully at as a barrier for the ants as I cant seem to get any tree grease ATM. I have taken it out of the pot and there is a huge ants nest in the roots 😰 I've left it for quite a whole and loads of the ants ran away I also washed the roots with a hose but there are still quite a few ants left. If I repot the tree with lovely fresh compost and give it a good feed, will it recover? I'm not expecting any fruit this year, can I give it a good prune? Thanks in advance!

I wouldn't worry. My damson always has loads of aphids on it (the leaf curling variety), but it never seems to do much harm and it always fruits plenty.

Let the wildlife eat as many aphids as they can stomach - normally once birds start having chicks, they start eating them in large numbers. Otherwise, leave be, you won't win the war anyway

Get it back in a pot - all the moving and washing etc is likely to have caused it great stress. Feed and keep the soil moist but not wet (the moisture will deter ants more than anything else) and feed it with a tomato feed once a month until around Sept. Then give it a big drink of water and leave it over winter.

That's what I'd do, anyway.

Thanks so much for your response. I will shove it back in a pot with some rich compost tomorrow and hope for the best!

I add Neem oil to the washing up liquid, after the bees have gone to bed and that seems to slow down the aphids a fair bit.