North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John.Mosko@engelhard.com]

Good idea Tom.  The birds for the first time (maybe due to the drought in
NJ?) are going wild on my apples.  They stripped my Gravenstein tree bare.
The only credit I'll give them is that they ate every edible bite of the
fruit (unlike squirrels which damage 5 for every 1 the eat).

One thing has kept them at bay to some extent.  I filled peck holes with
hot pepper sauce.  This deterred them for a few days but then they zero in
on other apples.  My buddy says that now the flock is tuned in to the food
source and it's going to be difficult to get them to forget about it.  To
make matters worse, yellow jackets take advantage of any little peck and
dig in.

I really need to get the reflectors or ballooons out.

I did think of one idea for the yellow jackets for small orchards.  I don't
know if it's novel or if would even work but I'll try it.
It's along the lines of lures.  If yellow jackets are mining out an apple,
use that apple as a "lure."  Spray the hole with a knockdown pesticide,
(organic growers can use natural pyrethrins).  It would have to be an
insecticide that doesn't repel them.  The insecticide would have to be
labeled for use at the pre-harvest interval it is used at to be on the up
and up (even though you wouldn't harvest the sprayed apple).  In theory,
the yellow jackets would come in contact with the insecticide and croak.

John