North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[BRosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>]

Subject:

Re: [NAFEX] Wrapping trees - wasps

From:

"William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>

Date:

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:13:35 -0600

To:

North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

I read through that website and it really makes me think of going ahead a wrapping my trees in row cover fabric this summer.  The beetles seem to defoliate all the apples, munch on the gold raspberries and hit the plums somewhat, but don't do much to some of the other trees, and for some reason have not yet bothered the grapes.  Oh yeah, they eat my peaches, not too much damage to the leaves.  I will look this year and see if the beneficial nematodes have made any difference.  And try the bug juice spray.  That, I can do.

Barbara Rosholdt
3Domes
Zone 7, central piedmont Virginia

So interplant shrubs/perennials that bloom at forsythia time to attract the Spring Typhia to the area needed. Good plan!

You might be interested in this discussion on the GardenWeb forum (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ipm/msg0821155514944.html?13).

In part, it says, "To increase the number of Tiphia vernalis near you, and thus increase their toll on the JB grub population, Prof. Potter suggests that you should PLANT PEONIES. ... The attraction of Tiphia vernalis to peonies is very specific: "We screened dozens of other kinds of spring-blooming flowers and most of them did not attract appreciable numbers of Tiphia." The Tiphia are attracted to "honeydew" produced by aphids and scale insects (that live on foliage of many types of plants), but not to flowers other than peonies."

It also says that the effect on Japanese Beetle numbers is likely to be minor, but it says that about all the control methods discussed. I know nothing about any of this myself, you understand. I just stumbled across the discussion.

Bill