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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Milky Spore

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  • From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Milky Spore
  • Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:23:19 -0500

I read years ago re Milky Spore that beetle numbers were reduced by 75% in 2 years, by 95% in 6 years. Back in the TN Valley we put down the stuff in '83 I think, and after a couple of years we had a sudden freeze that really cut them back anyway, but after year that they were merely a nuisance, not a devasting force. When they first arrived, they defoliated the large cherry trees on the property twice each summer till they died the second summer. So I knew that the dirt I brought over here was infected and worth the wait for the stuff to spread. I wonder now and then if some of the grubs I find are infected, I drop those back in the ground and feed the healthy ones to the chickens. But the sudden drop in number of grubs this past winter and spring must be due to either the drought or the terrible freeze last year. Probably the drought, as it would have both killed plants they were feeding on, and made it impossible to move through the rock hard clay to find another plant. Donna




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