Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] plum curculio in cold and wet

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] plum curculio in cold and wet
  • Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 08:49:42 -0500

It seems to me that rain and cool weather slow the curculios down, but the moment the sun comes out they set to work. That means not having Surround on is not as big a deal during the actual downpour, but when it stops, the Surround needs to be there for the few hours before another rain starts. I don't have much hope of a plum crop here after last years' massive fruit crops (in response to the previous years' across the board freezeout) so I haven't sprayed Surround. It's been raining almost nonstop here since Mt Redoubt went off, about 5 weeks now. I noted that plums were not bothered too much till we got some warm dry weather for a day or two. I've been picking off the stunted ones and pitching them in a bucket of water. I'm thinking about spraying some seaweed on the tree to see if the others will plump up really big. Japanese plums bloom too early here, but they get a head start on the curculios and sometimes are fit to eat. The ones with scars on the skin but no bug inside interest me most, but I suppose those are simply feeding scars? Some are crescent shaped though. When I remove a curculio scar with my fingernail from a green plum, sometimes the grub has gone too deep to get it out, and the tiny line of brown it leaves is barely visible. I know someone mentioned the grubs being squeezed to death in what was it, pears? apples? I figure that if a plum was bred to chemically kill the PC grubs, it would be bad for humans. But if it could outgrow the grub, that would probably be good. Donna




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page