Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Surround speculation this spring

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bob Randall <YearRoundGardening@comcast.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Surround speculation this spring
  • Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 10:18:49 -0500

Just to add to the discussion, here in zone 9b/10a Houston, curculio damage is a problem on peaches, less so on plums, and essentially never on apples. Apples however are fairly recent fruits in this area, so we may be looking at genetic differences in the curculio populations.

Bob Randall
On Jun 19, 2008, at 10:12 AM, Scott Williamson wrote:

I saw some curculio on my peaches a couple of weeks ago which were about
the same size as my plums and apples. They definitely prefer the plums
and apples to the peaches. I'm not really sure there was much
difference in leaf coverage, but I didn't really think to look either.

BTW, would you happen to know from looking at you book if I am lucky
enough to have only one generation?

Scott
Central Indiana Zone 5b

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Donna &/or Kieran
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:31 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Surround speculation this spring

Donna writes:
I am surprised that you say the main curculio season is over for
you, I had to look see where you are. Probably a little behind us in
the season. As I understand it, the infested fruit that is falling
here now will produce a new crop of adults to go hit the late peaches.
I have never noticed any significant late curculio damage myself, and
would also be curious if others have seen such damage in peaches. I
may have gotten some and had assumed it was moths without looking too
carefully.
Scott

I went home and looked in my Garden Bug Book, and turns out that there
is a
dividing line between those who have only one generation of plum
curculio
and those a bit further south who have to deal with two generations per
year. Scott in Delaware is above it. Since the line mentioned is over
in
Virginia, I don't know where I am this side of the mtns, but I can
guess. I
ask myself, what is the worst possible answer, and that's it.
Speculation aside, my experience this year so far is interesting and

possibly useful. I have an early peach with large propped grafts of a
couple of AU plums on it. The peach is early, a seedling of something
that
blooms a bit too early for here but the mild spring allowed a heavy set
this
year. The plums have been ripening for 2 weeks and the peaches are just
now
getting ripe. It has been obvious all along that the curculio prefer
the
plums to the peaches. I wonder if given a choice in a peach orchard of
a
Japanese plum tree to work on, if spraying the hell out of the plum
would
give pretty decent protection to the peaches. I wonder if you had
something
really effective but really expensive and organically approved, if it
would
be affordable to protect the peaches that way. Or something cheap,
like a
chicken pen under the plum, and you tapped the plum tree religiously
twice a
day. Bored, penned chickens who've already scratched up the ground and
eaten everything interesting are REALLY fast learners if you offer them
the
same kind of bug every day. Curculio may look an awful like a bit of
debris, but if I can tell the difference, a chicken can too.
I've thought that the curculio didn't care for the fuzzy skins of
the
peaches, but I could be wrong. What if the plums just got going sooner
and
plumped up faster (they did that) so that made them more tempting? Or
maybe
it was because the plum has better leaf coverage than the peach side of
the
tree, and they like to be hidden? If a person were north of the two
generation line and had really late peaches, the peaches might not get a
lot
of hits anyway if early plums were preferred. Any comments?
Donna

_______________________________________________
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/

------------------------

Think before you print

NOTICE: This email message and any attachments are for the sole and confidential use of the intended recipients and may contain proprietary and/or confidential information which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and delete the original message from your computer system and destroy any copies of the message as well as any attachments and notify me immediately at (317) 344-7000.
_______________________________________________
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/

"Share What You Grow and What You Know!"

Bob Randall, Ph.D.
YearRoundGardening@comcast.net
713-661-9737






  • Re: [NAFEX] Surround speculation this spring, Bob Randall, 07/02/2008

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page