THE ORCHARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20426, 30 November 1929, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE ORCHARD.

WAR ON THE PESTS.

The season has again arrived when special means will have to be taken to keep the various orchard pests under control. The various pests that fruit-growers have to fight render it necessary that nothing should be left to chance, but that spraying should be commenced as soon as the fruit is set and continued at reasonaide intervals until the fruit is practically matured. Up to now the conditions appear to have been favourable for the setting of most varieties of fruit. Peaches and nectarines especially have in many instances set good crops. Japanese pluins

are in many cases overburdened with fruit and will require a considerable thinning to enable the trees to maturo and ripen their crop.

Pip fruits, too, appear to be setting good crops, and will from this time onward require persistent attention to spraying to keep that dread pest, codlin moth, under control. Arsenate of lead is still the most effective remedy when judiciously applied, not only for the destruction of codlin moth but for mo3t other insects that prey upon tho fruit and foliage of so many orchard trees. Spraying for the codlin moth should be commenced as soon as tho blossoms fall and the fruit is properly set. The fruit is then in aii upright position and if the spray is carefully and judiciously applied the eye and every portion of the fruit will retain some of tho emulsion applied. There is no better remedy for the destruction of tho leech that plays such havoc with the foliage of plums, pears, quince, cherry and various other plants during the summer, while the beetle that attacks the foliage of fruits and other trees, as well as other leaf-eating insects, are destroyed by the the of the arsenic solution.

The brown bottle, or what in tho grtib state is commonly known as the grass grub, is already on tho wing and has commenced its ravages upon the foliage of plums and other trees. Up to tho present little could bo done in tho way of spraying (o bo effective on account of the frequent and heavy rains. Unfortunately thus pest does not confine its ravages to fruit trees alone, but attacks almost every variety of trees and shrubs. Otherwise it might, liko the codlin moth, be in a great measure controlled.

For the black aphis that attack the young, tender foliage of peaches, plums and other trees the most effective remedy is to spray with Black Leaf 40.