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nafex - [NAFEX] Parasitic wasp forage revisited

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  • From: Joe and Ellen Hecksel <jhecksel@voyager.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Parasitic wasp forage revisited
  • Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 19:41:10 -0400

Hello all:

I just started to see curculio damage here in South-central Michigan.

I left rows of all many hardy vegetable plants; Chinese cabbage, kale, tyfon, mustard. I hoped that many would over winter and provide forage for parasitic wasps. Alas, none survived. It was a rough winter by our standards. We hit -17F in late November. We had no snow cover. The few greens that looked like they might be alive were leveled by the bunnies.

The only plants that are robustly blooming in the vegetable garden are wild mustard, aka yellow rocket. I have not seen much bee activity around them so I cannot vouch for how effective they are for wasp feed. Also, the are very near the end of their bloom. So they are finishing just as my insect pressure is starting.

Autumn olive is in full bloom. I see many bumble bees, honey bees and butterflies working them. I see no wee-bitty wasps.

The raspberries are just starting to bloom. BINGO! The first ones to open are the wild black ones. They are VERY heavily worked by bees and wasps of all sizes! Raspberries look like the hot ticket for parasitic wasp feed.

I want to ask list members for a favor. I want to know if there is significant differences in length of bloom period between raspberry cultivars or in attractiveness to bees. It will be really cool if we can find a cultivar that blooms for three or four weeks.

Optimistically yours, Joe





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