Today I sprayed on my trees an organic fruit tree spray that is supposed to protect the trees from various insects, and thousands of beetles flew off. Not kidding... and I do not have that many fruit trees. This spray was the only thing I had at the house. Any ideas on what else I should be doing?
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Jun 15 2010 : 2:31:20 PM
i would suggest you feed your tree also. something natural and or slow release. the bugs stress the tree. you can also give them a seaweed drink even put a few crushed vit. b complex tabs in. or use a stress drink with b in it. are your trees mulched? you can use a liquid soap and oil and water mix on the leaves. use only when sun is not on the leaf. this helps kill larvae eggs etc. like curly leaf rust. if you have rust you can add a tblsp. of baking soda to it. it helps with rust. just ideas thrown out there for ya. i would want to know the name of the bug. you could then find its predator. feeding birds in the area will help them find the bugs and eat them for you. i use a lot of plants in my garden to draw birds in to help keep grasshoppers beetles etc, out.happy days sherrye
Wow! Thank you so much Sherry! You are a wealth of information. What do you mean by rust? Can I buy a seaweed drink or is that something I should mix myself? Our trees arent mulched, they probably should be. Ill look up the bug and see what I can find out. We do have a lot of birds at the house but maybe there are certain plants that I should start looking for to attract certain birds, like you said.
Thank you so much for all of your help! I still cant believe the amount of bugs coming off those trees. So far mainly the very tops of the tree has been damaged but the bugs are starting to work their way down. Thanks again~
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Jun 16 2010 : 07:14:54 AM
i would be in a hurry to get it under control. you may not get fruit otherwise. mulching around the tree with hay or straw is good. the hay keeps the soil moist the roots cool and helps destress the trees. not real thick at first and not too close to the trunk base os tree. you can hanf stickt traps from the branches as well. the recipe of 1 tblsp. each of cooking grade oil and liquid dish soap such as planet and water in a sprayer will help deter them. are they big and black with pinchers on front. the company gardens alive probably has a predator bug you could buy and release. are your trees trimmed? all dead wood needs to be cut out now. the seawees can be food grade or for gardens. health food store sometimes fred meyers here has it. azure farms on line has it also. great for all garden plants. lots of minerals. 1 tblsp to a gallon also. its either blue green algae or seaweed you can use. plants love the stuff. just a thought or two happy days sherrye
Japanese Beetles Attacking My Fruit Trees
Posted - Jun 15 2010 : 1:18:01 PM
