On April 18 I mentioned applying systemic rose care granules to my shrub roses to both feed them and protect them from sucking and chewing insects. That application is repeated at six-week intervals, so it is time to give them another shot of energy. The difference this product makes in the amount of fresh new growth the plant produces is phenomenal. I’ll be its biggest advocate because I have a lot of different varieties of roses, and every one of them responds with that same enthusiasm.
Farmers Market starts this Thursday and I am amazed at how fast our vegetable crops are growing. Early crops are looking promising, and I’m pretty sure we will have strawberries in a couple of weeks.
And speaking of strawberries, if this is a crop you are growing, I’m reminding you of the new critter we get to deal with. Drosophila is a tiny fruit fly that infects any soft skinned ripening fruit … so we’re talking grapes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, and blueberries.
The fly is tiny but easily recognizable because it has an exceptionally large red eye. The female fly pierces the ripening fruit skin and lays its egg inside the fruit. The white larvae hatch in a few days, depending on the temperature. And there you have it — gross!
One of the key elements in control is to keep the ripe fruit picked so there is not a generational succession of the insects. Refrigerating the fruit immediately after picking will kill the eggs. The population of this bug explodes when left unchecked, and your negligence in doing what you could do to control this pest is not something the rest of us are going to appreciate.
Malathion is one of the organophosphate chemicals that will control the beast, but I don’t want to use that product on fruit with a textured skin like strawberries. It would be very hard to wash off.
Secondly, spray on the fruit is a byproduct of the control effort, because the spray has to make contact with the insect, and they hide under the leaves.
I have purchased an expensive organic spray called Entrust. It is made from a bacteria extracted from soil so it is harmless to humans, but I’m hoping not harmless to the drosophila ... and so the adventure (battle) continues.