Remedies for Orchard Pests

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 178, 31 July 1940, Page 10

Remedies for Orchard Pests

Pear Slug.—The best known remedy is Hellebore—two ounces to the gallon of water. Saturate the foliage with this mixture top and bottom. One ; n the slug first makes its appearance will usually suffice. Finely slaked lime, or road dust, may be used with advantage for scattering over the leaves; a little flower of sulphur added will be of service in checking the progress of the pest. Oyster-shell Back Louse.—Two parts of soap, one part of sulphur, and one part of turpentine, thoroughly incorporated and applied with a stiff brush. Caster oil. such as is sold for machinery, brushed on has proved an excellent remedy. Fresh slaked lime and sulphur, equal parts, applied as thick as whitewash to the trees in autumn at the time of pruning, is also said to be an excellent remedy. The soft soap solution should be used in spring, when the eggs of this pest have hatched out and the young larvae are in a state of activity. They may, by the aid of a glass, be . een running about previous to attaching themselves permanently to the bark, when they make their final home. Mealy Bug.- This is a universal pest in hothouses. A fine mealy substance covers the body, hence its name. Gishurst’s compound is one of the best means of getting rid of this troublesome pest; fumigation may also be resorted to. In the winter it harbours under the loose bark of the vine, in the border about the roots, and in the walls and crevices. The only way to get rid of it is to clean all loose bark off the vines in the winter, wash the rods, and afterwards paint them with a thick smearing composed of clay, tobacco liquor, soft soap and sulphur. Wash all woodwork and wall-.