Ok everyone, here's a bit more info . . . This evening I noticed dozens of dark, soft bodied insects crawling up the trunks of my plum trees. They're grey on the undersides, with segmented abdomens, and have rather pretty orange stripes on either side of their bodies. I watched some of these crawl out to the tips of the branches and begin sucking on leaves.
I made another batch of soap mix and sprayed the trees again. (It's been raining and cool for the past few days, so the stuff I'd sprayed on earlier has likely washed off.) The insects die quickly when hit with the soap. (I don't like watching anything die, but I HAD to be sure the soap was working!) The plum trees haven't dropped any of their fruit, and while I was spraying, I noticed that they're vigorously sending out new shoots and leaves to replace the insect-damaged ones. I suppose I should take heart in this, as it's an indicator that my trees are "fighting back." Of course, the new growth seems quite attractive to this variety of insect--which I believe is some form of aphid, given the appearance of their eggs and the fact that they're being protected by ants--so unless I can get the infestation under control, the insects have an ongoing supply of tender food! One of my clients works on a poultry farm. She asked if I'd be interested in some chicken manure. I intend to pick some of this up and let it compost over the summer. Perhaps I can mix it into my regular compost and apply it to the ground in the autumn. robert luis rabello "The Edge of Justice" "The Long Journey" New Adventure for Your Mind http://www.newadventure.ca Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
