02/11/2025
Budburst from the carmenere two days ago, but too frantic with other stuff to post. One slightly irritating thing at the moment is the annual flight of the bronze beetle - emerging from the soil after a previous life as a grass grub. Not only do they eat grass roots, but on emerging they eat fruit trees and vines. They can skeletonise small fruit trees in a matter of days. I thought I’d laid the groundwork for them by dosing the orchard floor to kill the grub stage, but no - they are now out in force. Some people think light traps work - basin of detergent water with a light above - I tried it and no it doesn’t work - it’s a waste of batteries. Spinosad spray was perhaps marginally effective but the beetles keep eating anyway before being affected. So last night at dusk - torch and pyrethrum in hands - the teeming hoard were inspected before getting a dose of the organic daisy extract. Thousands of the little beetles succumbed within minutes and I’ll repeat that in three days. Be interesting to see what their numbers are like then. Particularly badly hit were apricots, pears, peaches and chestnuts.
And the vines? Looking down each vine guard they looked beetle free but I’m not going to get complacent.
Another couple of weeks and it’ll be over, the beetles laying eggs in the ground for next years ritual, then dying. Some local vineyards are badly hit, especially on the outside edges next to open paddocks. The pyrethrum seems to be very effective but it has poor longevity on the leaves, hence the need for frequent reapplication - and at night when the beetles are starting to feed. I’m not sure whether commercial growers spray in the dark but it seems to be the best time.
Not the usual aristologist post, but that’s life - and sorry about the video for the squeamish.
