North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Deb S <debs913@gmail.com>]

Has anyone ever tried either a physical barrier or injecting the cane with
Bt?  I have tried growing winter squash for many years, but lost fine plants
to squash vine borers every year.  Last year I used a hypodermic and
injected Bt into the base of the plant.  The plants I did this to survived
and grew lovely squash.  Would this be possible with brambles or are the
canes too dense?

deb

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:36 PM, Kieran &/or Donna <holycow@frontiernet.net
> wrote:

> Deb asked where we all were.  I was outside in pretty weather after months
> of chill and clouds.  I have noted that several of my Kiowa blackberries
> have died entirely without my having noticed due to the crowd of Jerusalem
> artichokes plants.  The redneck borers have done a certain amount of dirty
> work every year, and probably half the existing canes are infested this year
> too.  I read that they are a big problem for commercial blackberry growers.
> Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't already had a lot of wild
> blackberries on hand.  There is just one plant that looks really good, no
> borers in any of the canes.  I can't figure it out.  Any notions on the
> behavior of these critters?  Do they go for stems with more or less shade,
> or more or less nitrogen?   I got a few plants of 2 thornless varieties and
> they haven't been as vigorous or productive as the Kiowas.  Thanks.
> Donna Z6 Tenn
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