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nafex - [NAFEX] Wrapping trees for protection

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  • From: BRosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Wrapping trees for protection
  • Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:32:46 -0500



Subject:
Re: [NAFEX] tulle. organza spring's coming!
From:
"Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
Date:
Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:49:11 -0600
To:
"North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

One year I had redwing blackbirds get into my ripening field corn, so I took masking tape and taped the tips closed.  Didn't take long to peck through the tape, so I got out my bag of old and mismatched socks and pulled them down over the ears.  That worked. 
    Personally, I think that with mammals they are going to smell the fruit, and there's no reason a rodent can't chew through any fabric they want.  But it might slow them down considerably.  I suppose the advantage tulle would have over a sock is that it won't hold water after a rain.  But it might be worth trying.  Has anyone tried old stockings for bug control?  I think codling moths lay their eggs pretty early, but seems like you could do a whole branch and keep them from getting at the ends of the apples.  It might be easier than netting a whole tree.  You might be able to leave them on all season, or take them off during the June drop, so that the ones that fall would be ready to fall anyone.  Also, the June dropped fruit would probably make troulbe and increase rotting if left inside.  Actually, since so many fruits need thinning, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have some knocked off.  Oh, I suppose a pair of scissors would remove the stocking without disturbing anything.  I think I may try this myself.  (Have to get some more fashionable friends to save me old stockings.)  Curculio owuld not be physically stopped from laying eggs, but they say that the texture feels wrong to them when you use Surround, so maybe they would keep searching for something that felt like a peach or a plum.    Donna

Barb here in Zone 7a(?), central Virginia  (couldn't prove global warming at my orchard - we just had two weeks with temperatures dipping to the single digits more than twice, and maybe more to come - all with no snow cover whatsoever!)

The real nuisance in my orchard is the Japanese Beetle.  If I lived around the orchard I would keep runner ducks.  Michael McConkey [Edible Landscaping] swears by them, "you don't have a Japanese Beetle problem, you have a duck deficiency".  Unfortunately, I am only a weekend orchard warrior.  This really hurts all phases of my operations, but especially the pest problems!  If the weather is not just right, the dormant oil doesn't get on in time, the sulfur doesn't make it, and I miss a critical Surround spraying, and then.... well total crop loss of peaches/plums to JBs is the picture.

This year we are going to try wrapping the trees with either remay, floating row cover or some such - mostly as a result of JB damage.  A friend has surrounded her trees with sheers from local thrift stores - doesn't matter what color, they bleach out in the sun quickly to white and hold up fairly well, don't snag.  She has them up on posts around the trees, hoping to stop the poor fliers.  Trouble is, my peach trees are 12' in spots.  I am going to have to wrap the trees, probably right after the fruit drop.  Has anyone any experience with this?  I expect trouble with critters - we Do have some Hawks, so the squirrels don't come out of the woods much, but they were hard on my plastic ziplocs last year.  My fastening job did not keep the bag on (with the zipper), and in a couple cases the apple and bag were knocked down by the greedy varmints.

I have been getting some persimmons and Paw Paws.  Thank the Lord for diversification, and native fruits!

Barb
Great Nafex 06 conference!



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