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Crop being eaten

mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
edited July 2019 in Fruit & veg
Never seen anything quite as bad.
Not sure who is doing the initial damage but I am suspecting the big black flies, then wasps and greenbottles are joining in the feast. I'll have nothing left by the time they are ripe. Found dozens of half eaten berries today.



I guess that's why it's called pink lemonade. Even the wasps can't resist it

lots of damage on other blueberry plants too but I found the original culprits. This guy alone destroyed 5 blueberries that I know of that he made his nest out of. He had to just slightly nibble on all 4 blueberries around him ontop of the one he was living in


Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Wasps leave my blueberries alone (though I don't have 'Pink Lemonade').  They feast on my Victoria plums instead...  Holes in the fruit on my blueberries are caused by birds, and by voles if the berries are nearly at ground level.  I guess if your blueberries are first pecked by birds, this will give easy entry to wasps and other insects, @mrtjforman.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
    me again with a small update. Although I have never seen wasps eat blueberries before for whatever reason they got a taste this year and my pink lemonade has been completely devoured.

    They ate over 100 berries in about 4 days. Very sad - I was going to say hopefully next year is not so hot that it happens again but scientists are saying it will only get hotter so I guess I need to invest in insect netting next.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I think you need to consider fine netting stretched over a framework next year to keep out unwanted insects.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • PeggyTXPeggyTX Posts: 556
    edited July 2019
    I'm trying a little experiment this year.  Down at our rural cabin property, wasps for the last 2 years have built nests right up on the porch under the roof.  Well I was reading about how Artemesia "Powis Castle" repels wasps and some other insects and orerdered 1 plant on eBay as I love the foliage so much.  I placed it on the cabin porch just under the corner they have always built nest on early in summer (before wasp season begins here) and when we went down 3 weeks ago, we didn't see any nests at all on the porch roof.  Then last week, we went down and there were nests at the opposite end of the porch roof (1 under roof; 2 on window screens).  Now it could just be coincidence, but these aromatic plants with lovely foliage just might do what they purport to do. 

    On my TX garden form, they tell me it roots easily in water or from cuttings, so I'm going to try to do this in fall, when recommended, and get 4 more plants started.  Lined up at the corners and door ont he porch, perhaps I can get them to move around to the back of the cabin.  If it works, I'll put them all around the cabin and hope to move them to the laundry building or way out onto the barn one day. 

    I'll post back my rooting efforts results and adding plants to let you know how this experiment goes over time.  I'm very hopeful after seeing what occurred this past month.  Here's what they look like:  https://www.gardenia.net/plant/artemisia-powis-castle.  A friend said she cuts sthem for flower vase arrangements and they root in the water before she even tosses the dead flowers into the rubbish bin. I don't know if you can get these in the UK, but seeds can be ordered online I imagine.

    My low-carb recipe site: https://buttoni.wordpress.com/
  • mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
    thx peggy was just the extreme weather we had here recently. Now its raining cats and dogs again.
    That plant would definetely repel me too. Looks like a giant fungus so not too keen on that. funny that the wasps just moved to the other side. Next they will move to the back of the cabin ;)
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