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New Information Available to
Home Gardeners
By Stuart Parkinson
Franklin County Extension Educator
If you have
fruit trees in your yard, you know that insect pests can be a real
problem during the summer months. Most gardeners would like to
find ways of dealing with these insect problems, either chemically
or organically. If your goal is to reduce the pest problems in
your fruit trees this coming season you should consider two
freshly revised publications from University of Idaho Extension.
"Insect
Control for Apples and Pears in the Home Garden" and "Insect
Control for Stone Fruits in the Home Orchard" can be
downloaded for free from the Educational Communications Web site (Resources
for Idaho Online Catalog) or purchased for $1.00 each
(plus shipping, handling and sales tax) by calling (208) 885-7982
or sending an e-mail to
calspubs@uidaho.edu or they can be purchased from the Franklin
County Extension Office.
The
publications discuss the abundant insect pests that can plague
your fruit trees and offer detailed recommendations for overcoming
them. They describe control of aphids, caterpillars, cherry fruit
flies, codling moths, European earwigs, leafhoppers, leafrollers,
mites, peach twig borers, pear psyllas, pear slugs, Oriental fruit
moths and scale.
In addition to
conventional chemical recommendations, you can read about the
potential usefulness of alternatives such as insecticidal soap,
neem oil, Bacillus thuringiensis, Beaveria bassiana, spinosad,
kaolin clay, adhesives and barriers. You can also learn how
pheromone traps can help you time insect sprays. Detailed guides
in the back of each publication outline which conventional and
alternative insecticides to use against which pests and when to
apply them.
Because fruit tree management is an unusually intensive
task for the average gardener, the authors of these publications
caution homeowners against planting more trees than they can care
for. Oftentimes neglected or under managed fruit trees can become
a source of pest insects, which can result in bigger problems both
for our neighbors and ourselves.
The Franklin County Extension office has many brochures and
handouts that deal with specific gardening, farming and home
economics topics. Many of these are free or available for a small
fee. Others are available for free on the University of Idaho
website. Please feel free to come into the office and look over
these brochures. The Extension office is located at 561 West
Oneida, Preston. Our phone number is 852-1097.
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