North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["baylands" <baylands@cros.net>]

North American lady bugs don't eat fruit......but.....the USDA released a
bug that looks similar to a ladybug here in Ohio. The purpose was that the
oriental import was to eat soybean aphids. I don't know how they do on
soybean aphids, but they migrate from the soybean fields to fruit trees and
they DO eat fruit. They cause a great deal of damage in the late fall to
what would be otherwise harvestable fruit - apples and pears at place. They
are widespread in northern Ohio.

Baylands Farm
Ohio zone 5/6

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Louisa Rogoff Thompson
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 9:36 AM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] ladybug and wasp damage

Replying to:
Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:03:45 -0500
From: Ray Kaminski <rjkaminski@charter.net>
Subject: [NAFEX] Balmer Peach
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.0.20040523130217.0289d960@pop3.norton.antivirus>

Location: NE Wisconsin Zone 4 to 5
  ...Lady bugs helped eat a good portion of what grew. 
Noticed that the Balmer was later than the rest and so suffered more lady 
bug damage....
By the time the Balmer was ready in late September, the Wasps and the Lady
Bugs had really started to take over ....

Ray,
Ladybugs don't eat plants.  They eat aphids, which are the real culprit.
Aphids not only consume foliage (and flowers?), they spread several serious
diseases of peaches.

Since the ladybugs haven't been able to control your infestation of aphids,
you could try the following methods:  If you can get a hose out there, knock
them to the ground with a strong spray of water.  They can't fly nor crawl
far enough to get back up into the tree at that stage of their lifecycle.
If you can't get that much water pressure, try spraying soapy water or
insecticidal soap.   Dormant oil alone, a mixture of sulfur (60% by weight,
300-mesh talc (35%) and mineral oil with a viscosity of 100 (5%) are other
methods.  All these methods must physically touch the insect.  If the leaves
have curled around the aphids, they won't work.  I haven't grown peaches
myself, so I hope someone who has will reply, too.

I've had problems with several kinds of wasps sucking the juices out of
fruit, especially fall raspberries.  Also ants.  Does anyone have a
prevention or treatment method for this?

Louisa Thompson
Southcentral PA, Zone 6; formerly from Baltimore (where the natives call
their home town Balmer, by the way), Zone 7.  If your peachtree is named for
the city, it would be adapted to avoid the late frosts we get here.



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