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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
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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[NAFEX] Wrapping trees for protection,
BRosholdt, 02/13/2007
- Re: [NAFEX] Wrapping trees for protection, list, 02/13/2007
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