Sorry if it's been asked before.

After months of waiting, my mandarin bark grafts are leafing out.

I accidentally knocked off a few tiny fragile emerging sprouts while working with the tree. Will that bud (area) sprout me another one?

Also, I am at war with the ants. I noticed that as the buds start to leaf out, the ants munch on the tender baby leaves. Surprised me because I didn't know that ants like to eat the tiny leaves too. They took out a few of my just emerging sprouts. Disappointing.

Do citrus have multiple buds? There was one bark graft I did, where all the buds on the scionwood spouted. Days later, all were eaten by the ants. I had to spray them off with a water spray bottle. Is that scionwood doomed because all its "bud sprouts" were eaten? Where does one buy Tanglefoot? I cannot seem to find any at HD.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, most of them have several multiple buds!

Especially the rootstocks, continue removing the rootstock sprouts, several of them would resprout from the same place.

There is a very good substitute for tanglefoot.

Mix vaseline (get from dollar tree stores or 98 cents store) and thick grease (best to use is Toilet Bowl sealing wax from home depot) until you get a consistency that will not flow when held vertically.

Then you have to wrap starting from the base of the trunk to the width of the Saran Wrap, secure with stretchable garden tie at both ends. Wrap several layers. At the very base of the trunk, pile up some sand so that the lower end of the saran wrap is buried by the sand. Now apply a 6" band of your vaseline and grease mixture around the middle of the Saran Wrap.

This will effectively prevent any crawling insects up your tree, and it is very cheap.

The purpose of the sand at the base is to prevent the ants from crawling under the wrap. You have effectively sealed the other end of the wrap. The other major purpose is to absorb any mixture that will slide off or drip from the saran wrap. Chances are, you won't get the mixture properly and you have applied it. Be vigilant to replace the sand when you see your mixture sliding unto it. This will prevent damage to the roots or trunk caused by the grease.

GreenZ-- I did ask that question last yr about this time-- I had 2 buds of Daisy Mandarin breaking on the same rootstock sprout and broke both of them off--thankfully one of them did send out a new sprout--it grew over 4 ft and it now has over 20 fruit! Hope you get a second chance like I did.