Down to earth: Fruit pest control
Although it doesn’t look it, there’s a ground drought on and many plants are suffering pest infestations. All plants become susceptible to pests and diseases when stressed, so keep crops fed and watered to minimise potential problems. Here are some common fruit pests and strategies to deal with them.
Woolly apple aphid: (see photo) Seen as white fluffy blobs on branches. Use aphid-resistant apple rootstocks like MM106. Plant flowers to encourage beneficial insects, especially the woolly apple aphid parasitoid Aphelinus mali. Predators include the European or common earwig, the brown lacewing, hoverflies, and several ladybirds. Spray large infestations with all-purpose oil in spring, natural insecticidal soap, garlic and pyrethrum (early morning or evening), neem oil, or make a garlic and chilli brew.
Cherry and pear slug: These sawfly larvae look like a small, dark slug with a big head. Leaves on cherries, pears, quince and apples can be skeletonised. Spray with natural garlic/pyrethrum or naturalyte in November and February. First try hosing them off the leaves with a strong jet of water or stand downwind of the tree and throw ash over it. Band the tree with a horticultural paste (Trappit adhesive) to prevent them climbing back up in spring. Encourage natural predators such as paper wasps, hoverflies, lacewings, spiders and insect-eating birds. Fence bantams/chickens underneath in winter to destroy overwintering pupae.
Caterpillars of codling moth, leafrollers and light brown apple moth (LBAM): These are all small moths and caterpillars (8-10mm). Codling moth larvae eat into apples and pears. Leafrollers and LBAM affect surfaces of pipfruit and burrow into berryfruits. Disrupting codling moth mating by using pheromone traps is the most effective control. Set traps in the middle of five trees in October/November, refill in January. Barrier paste and corrugated cardboard in late summer will trap some larvae that crawl down to pupate. Burn cardboard regularly and replace. Encouraging beneficials in the orchard with flowering understorey plants. Pick up infected fruit or run pigs/chooks in the orchard. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) on berryfruit in early summer minimises caterpillar damage.
Passion vine hoppers: Nymphs are easy to spot with their fluffy tail. Nymphs and adults jump when touched. They suck sap from plants and can cause black sooty mould. Collect adults by hand if there are only a few, and squash. Control at the young nymph stage with insecticidal soap or garlic and pyrethrum. Prune out all shoots with tiny white tufts where eggs are. Encourage parasitic wasps with flowers.
Either way we often have to accept some damage and learn to share.
Fruit care
Water fruits and keep all fruits well mulched.
Support really fruit-laden branches.
Summer prune after fruiting: when sunny prune out water shoots growing low on trunk or in centre of fruit trees, especially stonefruit. Prune out old berryfruit canes.
Watch for silverleaf. Prune out affected branches. Apply trichoderma to cuts. Insert bio dowels into trunks asap.
Tip figs once fruit buds present for better fruiting.
Cover berryfruits with netting to stop the birds!
Put bands of corrugated cardboard around fruit tree trunks. Remove and burn every two weeks to limit moth caterpillars. Barrier paste on bands helps trap them (see garden shop).
Strawberries need fortnightly liquid fertilising with comfrey. Mulch with pine needles or wood shavings.
Spray fruits with liquid seaweed as a tonic.
Also spray citrus with all purpose oil for scale insect and aphids (or use garlic and pyrethrum).
Prune citrus when harvesting.
Prune grape shoots back to two leaves past fruit.
Herb care:
Keep harvesting to stall flowering. Dry for later use.
Sow basil, coriander, dill direct fortnightly for continuous supply.
Plant parsley.
Vegetable care
Plant winter brassicas and celery into a fertile bed. Cover to protect from pests (netting or shade cloth).
Sow salads every two weeks for continuous supply.
Liquid fertilise in mornings, weekly. Comfrey for fruits.
Delateral tomatoes, cucumbers. Remove lower leaves.
Watch out for pests and diseases, especially aphids on young seedlings. Spray. Bt on brassicas vs caterpillars.
Sow/plant lots of flowers to attract beneficial insects.
Hothouse: Liquid fertilise weekly. Replace yellow sticky cards/bands for whitefly. Keep well ventilated. Spray with garlic and pyrethrum if plants get aphid or whitefly infestations.
For transplanting: All seeds 28 March. Leafy greens (summer spinach, silverbeet/chard, lettuce, endive and cabbages)(best 26 March). Broccoli, cauliflower, flowers, eg Livingstone daisy.
Sow direct: All seeds 28 March. Mesclun salad, radish, spring onions, beetroot, kohlrabi, swede and turnip. Flowers, eg snapdragon.
Plant: 9–22 March. Salad greens, silverbeet/chard, spinach, and cabbages. Flowers, eg self-seeded hollyhocks.
General garden care
Practice water conservation. Collect shower water and use tubs for washing hands. Reuse in garden.
Collect water in drums.
Prune trees and shrubs after flowering, including roses.
Make lots of compost. Turn heaps.
Make comfrey liquid fertiliser: cut, fill drum and add water. Wait a month before use.
Collect seaweed/seagrass.
Mulch citrus and ornamentals with grass clippings. Mulch-mow lawn.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy
