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Grease band or fruit tree grease

Updated: 22 October 2026

You have run a hand down an apple in a British garden. Young bark is still smooth. Older bark has split into plates, and a paper strip bridges the ridges instead of filling them. Grease band or fruit tree grease is that choice: a ready sticky roll, or a paste you work into a ring. The [grease bands for fruit trees](/hub/garden-supplies/grease-band) page lists the seven amazon.co.uk rolls checked on 19 October 2026. A qualifying purchase from that table can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. None of those listings is a grease tub, so this page does not score a pot.

You have run a hand down an apple in a British garden. Young bark is still smooth. Older bark has split into plates, and a paper strip bridges the ridges instead of filling them.

Our top picks

Provanto Provanto Boltac grease band, 5 m

Best overall

Provanto Provanto Boltac grease band, 5 m
8.2/10about £5.95
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Defenders Defenders grease band, 1.75 m × 10 cm

Rank 2

Defenders Defenders grease band, 1.75 m × 10 cm
8.4/10about £6.94
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SWISSINNO SWISSINNO grease band, 5 m × 5 cm

Rank 3

SWISSINNO SWISSINNO grease band, 5 m × 5 cm
7.5/10about £12.99
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On this page
  1. 1.The two barriers
  2. 2.Smooth bark, ready band
  3. 3.Fissured bark, brush-on grease
  4. 4.What you can buy from this comparison

The two barriers

A ready grease band is a paper or plastic strip with glue on one face, sticky side facing out. Fruit tree grease, also sold as barrier glue, is a paste you press into a continuous ring so there is no dry tunnel under the film. The Royal Horticultural Society puts both on the same job: wingless female moths that walk up the trunk. It names ready papers, including Boltac, for smooth bark, and grease or barrier glue in the fissures of older bark. Fit either barrier in late October, about 45 cm above the soil and below the lowest branch, and keep it effective until about April.

Smooth bark, ready band

Use a ready band when the bark is smooth enough for paper to lie flat, as on a young apple, plum, pear or cherry. Defenders states about 1.75 m by 10 cm, at £6.94 in the 19 October scrape. SWISSINNO states 5 m by 5 cm at £12.99, with no string in the listing. Provanto Boltac is 5 m at £5.95 and PIC is 5 m at £7.99, and neither states a width. Choose the band only when the paper presses down with no tunnel.
Provanto Provanto Boltac grease band, 5 m

Testsieger

Provanto Provanto Boltac grease band, 5 m
8.2/10about £5.95
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Fissured bark, brush-on grease

On a mature apple, insects walk the cracks under a paper band that only touches the high points. Brush-on grease is the better seal, worked into the fissures. Garden World's fruit tree grease is a rapeseed-oil paste in a 200 g tub. The ring is about 10 cm wide, at least 45 cm up and below the lowest branch, after loose flakes are brushed away. This set has no tub price because it has no tub. On soft young bark, Garden World says put the grease on a paper collar, not on the bark. A SWISSINNO review says the band will not stay where the bark is not smooth.

What you can buy from this comparison

If the bark is smooth, length and width sit on the grease band buying guide. Every row is a ready band. On 19 October 2026 the shelf ran from Provanto at £5.95 for 5 m to a pafnisoin listing at £13.99 whose title says 10 m while the bullet says 5 m. Fitting is on the how to fit a grease band page, and whether the chewing is winter moth is on the grease bands for winter moth page. On fissured bark, grease in the cracks is the better seal, though you buy that tub elsewhere.

Common questions

When is a grease band the wrong tool?
A grease band is the wrong tool on fissured bark, where paper cannot reach the bottom of the cracks. It is also the wrong tool for codling moth and plum moth, whose females fly, and for aphids already in the canopy. If the band lifts off bark that is not smooth, change the method rather than adding another strip over the same ridges.
Can I put grease straight on a young tree?
On soft young bark, no. Garden World says put the grease on a paper band, not on the bark, so the paste stays off skin that is still thin. A firmer smooth trunk can take a ready band from this set and skip the tub. Keep a collar at least 45 cm up, clear of the turf, and treat the stake the same way. A thick smear straight onto soft bark is the combination to avoid.
How wide is the grease ring?
Garden World specifies a ring about 10 cm wide. That figure belongs to the paste, not to every roll here. Defenders states 10 cm, so it happens to match. SWISSINNO states 5 cm. Provanto and PIC do not state a width. The pafnisoin listings state 25 cm, and that taller face is still paper. If a grease pack is silent, copy about 10 cm after loose bark is removed.
Do I still band the stake?
Yes. A cane or stake is a second route up, and wingless females and ants use bare timber beside a finished ring. Give it the same barrier at the same height, as a cut of band or a short ring of grease. A banded trunk with an open stake still fails. Check the tie after wind, because a bracket often leaves a gap the paper never covered.
Is fruit tree grease pesticide-free?
Garden World's paste is rapeseed oil, so it is not a codling-moth spray. That is not a certificate. No organic mark for a tub was checked, because no tub is in the seven listings. Pesticide-free on band bullets is a listing claim. The Society says these barriers are indiscriminate. An oil base does not mean a bird, a bat or a mouse is safe if the glue can hold it.
Does grease stop codling moth either?
No. Codling moth females fly to the fruit, so they never have to climb. Grease in the cracks fails that job in the same way as paper. Maggots in the apple call for a different control, not a thicker ring. Winter moth is the crawling female this barrier is for, and only if you fit it from late October, before she has climbed.

Related pages

Best grease band

Grease band

Grease band buying guide: length, width and string

How to put grease bands on fruit trees this autumn

Grease bands for winter moth on apple, plum and pear

Sources

Public UK sources for timing, bark and wildlife, plus the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf prices read 19 October 2026. Updated 22.10.2026.

  1. RHS, grease bands and tree barrier glues (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  2. RHS, winter moth caterpillars (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  3. BBC Gardeners' World, how to deal with winter moths (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  4. Garden World, fruit tree grease (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  5. Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  6. Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, section 1 (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  7. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 5 (retrieved 19.10.2026)
  8. Ashridge Trees, how to apply grease bands (retrieved 19.10.2026)