I assume aphids. It did make me smile to se the black ant attacking- or so it appears.The fruit have been formed no more then a few weeks and they already look like this:
I fear there will be another apple-less harvest from our yard. Since we are bringing in the bees, I am double positive my hands are tied. The animal pen resides under its branches, so chemicals are a NoNO anyway. I read jalepeno sauce/puree,tobacco,garlic and something else mixed and sprayed- but the thought of me spraying this 30ft or taller tree just made me laugh. I tried that last year and after climbing through its branch's still could only get the main half of it. Why did the previous owners let this thing get so massive?!Nature boy (aka lil'man) and I were walking the grounds perimeter while Frog took her afternoon nap. He quickly spotted this:
I have no idea what it is. Do you? Nature boy quickly found a use for it.
Reminds me of those little yard trolls especially the way he is sitting.I leave you with a look at the "grain skating turkey diva champion".
I swear she's smiling...Sweet dreams, ~Tammie
6 comments:
Looks like it might be Burdock (Arctium lappa). The leaves are sage green and kind of fuzzy.
It looks like rhubarb to me, but that seems too obvious.
The turkey babe is adorable!
I second the burdock verdict.
Also, observe the black ants again. They may be "farming" the aphids (actually caring for them by protecting them and then drinking off of the aphids (the nectar "urine" they extract). You may be able to obtain ladybugs (especially their voracious larvae that look like tiny black & yellow alligators)as they have a huge appetite for aphids. I've heard lacewings as well like to snack on them. Someone else I read is having an aphid problem also, so tonight when I get off of work, I'll look up solutions in my natural/organic pest control manuals (we only have the ones that suggest poison here at work-I just noticed that).
I have 3 bottles of organic rose and flower spray- www.greenlightco.com- which i picked up at a highly reduced price last year. i just used 1 bottle to spray as much as I could reach with my garden sprayer and still had enough to spray in the garden and my roses. I was looking at their site for other products and see they do have one for fruit trees. I will checkon the price but Gina, I would love some homemade recipes for spray.Thank you for looking!
I looked up burdock and i do believe you are right. only time will tell.
I can't believe the late frost didn't kill all your apple blossoms! Everything got zapped here. I only have two cherry trees and both will not produce this year. The incredibly delayed spring here caused my whole garden to be really behind.
I suppose your trees are fine (except the infestation) because your trees naturally don't bloom until later than here in TN.
Lady bugs are also my recommendation for a solution for the problem, but I'm not a real farmer.
yes, burdock it is and i'm the other one gina mentioned with the aphid/ant problem. those buggers just farm the aphids for their own pleasure!
lacewings and lady bug larvae are your best ammo for the aphids and maybe praying mantis?
yay for the foster bees! we were hoping to get some but our local bee guy lost too many to sell us a hive this year. i spoke to some local bee folk today and she said two instances that she knew both had 1000 each, one lost 400, the other 650. sad. they lost 2 out of 11 themselves. scary stuff. i hope we are able to find a swarm this year to help the population ourselves.
that rocks that you'll get a cut of the honey! sweeeeet! :)
Post a Comment