Natural Solutions to Things That Bug You (39 page)

    Many farmers allow a hog to run free in the orchard eating all the dropped fruit. This solves the problem of having to pick up all the fruit that has dropped.

CHERRY TREES

CHERRY FRUITWORM

General Information:

    This worm hatches out toward the end of May in the northeastern United States. The green worm larvae; bores into the cherries and feeds for about 2 weeks. The adult fruitworm is actually a gray moth with black spots. It will lay its eggs on the fruit in mid-July and they hatch as small green caterpillars, which proceed to eat the cherries near the stem and build their web around a cluster of cherries.

Fruitworm Moth

PARASITES TO THE RESCUE

There are two parasites that are used to control these bugs. The first is a parasitic fungus called
Beauvaria bassiana
, which is also used against the cranberry fruitworm and the second is a parasitic wasp called
Trichogramma minutum
.

OPEN THE FLOODGATES

Large commercial orchards sometimes flood the orchard to get rid of these bugs and others. In smaller operations handpicking works well.

CUCULIO BUGS

General Information:

    These tiny bugs feed on the tender foliage, buds and blossoms of different fruit trees as soon as they have finished blooming. They will drill circular hole in the newly set fruit. The females lay their eggs and the grub proceeds to eat the fruit for about 15 days, then bores out and enters the soil. It then proceeds to form a hard shell and turns into pupae.

SHAKE THEM UP

When these bugs are in the tree and the tree is shaken they tend to curl up in a ball and play dead. They will easily fall from the tree in a large tarp placed under the tree. When the tree is shaken they all fall out into the tarp for disposal.

CHERRY TREE PEST PROBLEM SOLVER

              THE PROBLEM                                                                      CAUSED BY                                         
             

Leaves curled in spring, cluster of black insects              Black cherry aphids

Leaves tied together with webbing and eaten

in spring                                                                                                  Leafroller

Leaves have brownish patches, skeletonized

leaves                                                                                                  Pear slug

GUARD HENS TO THE RESCUE

If you allow hens to roam around the fruit trees they will handle the problem by eating the grubs as they descend. This will end their life cycle very efficiently.

CITRUS TREES

CITRUS TREE PEST PROBLEM SOLVER