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Pest control is something that you need consider before you start your organic gardening project. This is a lesson that I learned in my first few months into organic gardening.
I have a couple of apple trees in my backyard. Last year, only one apple was found. To be accurate, just half of it hanging lonesomely in the tree. Guess the other half was shared by birds.
When the trees burst into blossoms in the spring, I was thrilled, thinking that I would have plenty of organic apples come the fall.
Look what I have two months later.
And this,
It’s apparent my tree is sick and the apples are infested with pests. This might be the hard way to learn some pest control techniques in organic gardening. So I went to the library and found this book: The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control from Rodale. Here is what I found:
Fruit with holes surrounded by brown, crumbly excrement. Cause: Codling moths. Adults appear in early spring and lay eggs in trees within 2 to 6 weeks of blossom time. Eggs hatch into larvae within 5 to 14 days. The fat, white or pinkish, 7/8-inch caterpillars tunnel through fruit and may be gone by the time you find the holds, which may be filled with frass, waste material that resembles moist sawdust…. Infested apples may drop early;
So that’s it. Codling moths are the culprit. Those are making tunnels in my apples.
I found another (well, it’s not that difficult to find one, but…) apple on the tree with the above-quoted symptom. I opened it, voilà!
Having stumbled upon organic gardening, I am ill-prepared for pest control and disease control. I knew it would not be easy, but I had only a very vague notion of pest, or pest control. This will be a very good opportunity for me to gain some real experience in organic gardening.
I am going to follow the methods to control the codling moths, and will share with you my progress. Stay tuned.
