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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Winter moths and fruit trees
  • Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 9:39:56 -0400

Sigh. . .

I have several fruit trees in my yard, and I also have a lot of oaks. And
I have had major problems with winter moths in recent years.

I can spray the apples and blueberries myself, but there's no way for me to
protect the oaks. And my trees definitely need protection from the
voracious caterpillars, which eat out the swelling buds before they've
opened. So I hired a tree service to spray my trees, being careful to tell
them I had fruit trees and they shouldn't spray blooming apple trees or
blueberries. I wrote on the contract that I would pay for one or two
sprays, skipping the second recommended one if it coincided with apple
bloom. I hired one of the few companies that uses spinosad, because of its
lower residual toxicity to bees.

So right before the apples bloomed I called them frantically and said 'you
need to come now or it's too late.' and they did.

Then, a few days later, when all the king blossoms and some of the others
had opened, they came again. My huusband was home and tried to tell them
it had already been done, but he wasn't very forceful, and they sprayed
anyway.

This morning he called me at work to say they just sprayed again. We are
just past peak bloom, with every variety still having open blossoms. The
blueberries are at peak bloom.

I haven't seen a lot of pollenators lately. I was excited to see a lone
bumblebee yesterday evening. I suppose she's dead now.

No real question here. I won't hire that company next year. I may just
let to oaks go unprotected for a year and see how bad it is. I guess if
anyone has advice about rebuilding my pollenator population I'd be
grateful, but I'm not too optimistic. Just wanted to complain to someone
who'd be sympathetic. Thanks for lend an ear (eye).

___
Ginda
eastern Mass., zone 6




  • [NAFEX] Winter moths and fruit trees, Ginda Fisher, 05/16/2008

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