North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["del stubbs" <pinewoodel@hotmail.com>]

Areas of Northern Minnesota are heavily infested now. Are they elsewhere?
It's a cyclic event, some say 15 years. Healthy trees are defoliated, then 
releaf in July 'like nothing happened', I hear.
In our local area we've just started seeing a handful here and there in the 
woods.  While mowing the fledgling apple orchard today i noticed a 3 year 
old sweet sixteen with chewed leaves, but no insects obvious. Then my wife 
spotted them on the chicken wire enclosure. Perhaps sunning themselves after 
this mornings rain?   So we inspected all 200 trees, some are this years 
grafts-just showing first leaf. One got it bad, there being so little growth 
to take the feeding.
It suprised me to see so many apples with just one catapillar per plant, I 
thought they we're typically only in the great bunches.
So it's inspections every day till they give up.
Much discussion of them on the local radio, and so far the concensus is Dawn 
detergent spray mix, or aluminum foil trunk wrap with grease.
Mn. Del
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