Pests - green aphids and winter moth caterpillar

[WhiWooMan]

I thought the following might be of interest. "Great tits can reduce caterpillar damage in apple orchards" by Christel Mols and Marcel Visser, Journal of Applied Ecology 39, 888-899. Blue Tits may also have a role to play in keeping caterpillar numbers down here in UK orchards (esp if these are adjacent or near to native woodlands) and invariably occupy nest boxes it may well be worth doubling box density to 4/ha. Westcountry Woodland Gardens offer wildlife nest boxes at reasonable prices.

[rubycheer101]

hello my mom came home with this huge green moth and its dead now and its a green aphid can i get deseases from it???

[stephenhayesuk]

@rubycheer101 most unlikely. Biting mosquitoes can transmit diseases and so can fleas and ticks, but only if they bite you. 

[DamonBKnox]

Stephen I was going to send a video response and ask you about this weird thing that was going on with my bartlett pear tree. black burned looking leaves. I looked up some pear diseases and there was a huge list on wikipedia. I wasnt going to go through them all. I think I did find it though. Fireblight. I havent looked at any info on it yet. Do you ever have this type of problem?

[stephenhayesuk]

I have no agricultural training or qualifications, just an enthusiastic amateur who learned through doing and reading. There are differences between pest and diseases in US and UK (although many are the same), I believe we have fireblight as well as silver leaf etc

I hesitate to offer specific advice on pests and diseases. Hopefully other tubers will add video responses and better resources. I just share some of my problems in case its helpful. More research and training is needed!

[mickyboy200768]

@DamonBKnox i agree with stephen that could be fire blight, which is caused by bacteria (erwinia amylovora), you have to act fast if you have this desease in your garden ,there is no point trying to save the tree if it is in an advanced stage (you must cut it and burn it as this desease is highly infectiouse) but if you catch it at early statge you just have to prune branches and all infected areas of the tree making sure not to spread the desease (desinfect your tools)

[DamonBKnox]

Have you ever heard of (Im sure you have) of putting little nylon stalkings on the fruit? Of course I have a small orchard. Anyway if you have, what are your thoughts on how effective it might be with apples, pears, peaches?

[stephenhayesuk]

Hi Damon

This can be helpful to prevent wasp and bird damage on fruit which is almost mature, but not against aphid and caterpillar.

A few aphids and caterpillars like this indicate that we are not over-applying pesticide. If you achieve 100% control you never know how much is overkill. Excessive pesticide use as well as the problems of cost and residues may also kill beneficial insects.

Its a tightrope. There are no entirely satisfactory solutions, more research is needed!

[DamonBKnox]

Thanks for the info.