North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On May 31, 2008, at 5:22 PM, Diane Whitehead wrote:

> . . .what really changed our landscape back to green was the  
> importation in
> 1979, '80 and '81 of some natural predator of the winter moth.  By
> 1985 their population had crashed. It was so great to have fruit
> again. I suppose we still have some winter moths but they aren't
> noticeable enough for me to do anything to prevent them.
>
> Diane Whitehead
> Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
> maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
> mild rainy winters, mild dry summers

That's encouraging.  Local scientists are releasing parasitic flied  
here, that they hope will eventually control the pest.  I'm hopeful  
that in a few years they will recede to become an ordinary  
caterpillar, and not the extraordinary problem thay have been for the  
last few years.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/ 
scientist_to_la.html

Ginda
Eastern MA, zone 6