well, scab. remember how i said i am a lazy sprayer? it goes for scab too. so much depends on our spring weather here. we don't get summer rain, so july/august scab is a non-issue. depending on our may/june though, we'll get those warm days with rain that heat up those spores. if i am being good and following the weather reports, and i can get a sulfur spray on with a good sticker (i'm still just using NU-FILM 17 - are there better ones on the OMRI list??) the last dry day before those rains start, i get good protection. the key with sulfur is that it's a prophylactic only, it doesn't stop scab that is already on your trees. using it that way, i've definitely reduced my scab in what could have been a bad year.
for the last week though now it keeps hailing on the about to open pear blooms. it's a bit depressing. half of the buds (the ones facing up) are gone black and squidgy.
karen oregon city, OR - zone 8a and wet On Apr 6, 2008, at 7:29 AM, Patsy King wrote: I am so pleased to hear the details of your experiences with the codling controls you've described. I had not heard from anybody who had tried the CYD-X virus and did not even know that "Last Call" was available yet or what its name was, just a description. This info will help many growers. And thanks so much for the link to the site for trying to calculate when to do the controls. I knew it was online somewhere, but you've saved me lots of time searching for it!!! I'd be interested too to hear how your experiences have been with scab. I would suspect your location would be even more scab prone than mine.
People's experiences with the major apple problems would be a great topic for articles in Pomona in my opinion, since so many people grow apples. Thanks again to all who've been giving their ideas... patsy in SW oregon zone 7-8
Message: 4 Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2008 18:03:50 -0700 From: Karen Tillou <arboretum@homeorchardsociety.org> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Codling Moth Control (Richard Moyer's) To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <D521E733-9747-4BD5-8226-4B8FBCB550B8@homeorchardsociety.org">D521E733-9747-4BD5-8226-4B8FBCB550B8@homeorchardsociety.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" patsy - i have a maybe 100 apple trees that i manage organically here in the pacific northwest. the two uses for codling moth traps do not require different pheremone lures, it is merely a matter of the number of traps you put out, as you suspected. i use just a few traps to monitor the emerging population each spring, but costs prevent me from buying two traps for each tree to trap them out.... there exists a product called "Last Call" that combines the codling moth pheremone with a synthetic pyrethrin pesticide - you apply 5-10 "droplets" scattered on the branches of each tree (i think that was the recommended #) - the male moths home in on the pheremone, but die when they come in contact with the pesticide. it is not OMRI listed, because of the pesticide, but is much less destructive to beneficial bugs than spraying. if you have the time to apply the stuff, i think it might be a good solution for a small orchard. my experience with CYD-X has been on the positive side, for a small orchard. a group of us with small numbers of trees got together and split the cost of one bottle, which has a shelf life of 18 months if you freeze it between uses. i have seen gradual reductions in my codling moth populations over the three years of use, and that is from a once or twice per year spray regime (terribly lazy, i know) with no other controls beyond religious removal of windfalls during the harvest period. my neighbor and his 20-30 big old trees has also been happy with his results. one organic grower i know splurged on his $300 bottle of virus, sprayed it intensively every week during the first and second generation egg hatch periods, and so completely wiped out his population that he has not had to spray for the two years since. the thing with CYD-X is timing: it has only a 3 day life out in the UV light, and must be injested by the larvae before they enter the apples. which means the best time for them to do that is as they chew their way out of their egg cases. WSU researchers Brunner and Hoyt came up with a phenology model for the codling moth, linking degree days to their egg hatching. this model is available online, where you can plug in a local weather station's data and find out when the eggs are hatching, to better time your sprays. i use the site www.pnwpest.org/wea/ that has links to oregon, washington and idaho weather stations. (are there other sites out there for different parts of the country?) i think part of my slow results from using the virus are from poor timing, as it is inevitably raining the days i need to spray.... hope this helps karen oregon city, OR - zone 8a and wet
_______________________________________________ nafex mailing list nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed. This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites. Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!
**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!** Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded. No exceptions. ---- To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options): http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
File attachments are NOT stripped by this list. TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES! Please do not send binary files. Use plain text ONLY in emails!
NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/ |