Another load of applesauce running through the system. It is about 2/3 Goldrush and 1/3 Melrose.
It looks like I have a codling moth issue. Maybe that is why I had so much drop on my oldest GoldRush tree. Steps will be taken. There are many actions that can reduce the pest pressure. Sanitation (picking up all the fruit drops), spraying "dormant oil" on the trunk, spraying insecticides during peak activity (codling moths have several generations per year), "trapping-and-burning" using bands of corrugated cardboard wrapped around the trunk.
If the internet can be trusted, the second generation does 40 times as much damage as the first generation. If I can kick the snot out of the first generation then the second generation will be a faint-echo of what it could have been. Said another way, the plan is to shoot the race-horse before he leaves the starting box.
Deer enclosure
Wire mesh was hung on the fence posts.
Trail cams
I moved one of the cameras to a place where two trails come together. I installed a third camera in the southeast corner of my property where there is a lot of deer traffic. Maybe I will see something besides Skinny Girl and her two fawns.
The technology in trail cams has been evolving rapidly. It is now possible to purchase $40 trail cams that use 4, AA batteries and a 32G SD card and can record a year's worth of game movement.
There are also trail cams that use infrared technology that is totally invisible to the human eye. The older technology had a dull-red flash since the LEDs used near-IR wavelengths. That was plenty good enough to be invisible to deer (which can barely see red light).
Why is that a big deal?
You can place an older, obsolete camera where a poacher or trespasser will see and destroy it. You use the newer, invisible camera to record the event. Not only did the moron trespass, he destroyed evidence of committing a crime (a de facto admission that he knew he was breaking the law). The law enforcement community's response to casual trespassers is often tepid because the trespasser can claim "I didn't know I had crossed the property line." Why break into a sweat when a person can claim stupidity.
That changes a bunch when the trespasser not only trespasses but destroys property and simultaneously his "I didn't know..." defense. Cops and prosecutors get understandably shitty when thugs destroy evidence. It chops away at their ability to discharge their sworn duties.
We simplified our trespassing law from two pages to two paragraphs about 12 years ago. The only legitimate reason you can go on someone else’s property without permission is retrieving hunting dogs, livestock, or a downed animal and you must do so without a firearm.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a lot of our politicians own insurance companies and were tired of paying out lawsuits for trespassers getting injured on someone else’s property.
Down here, purple posts on the fence line are the warning, but doing that makes sense too!
ReplyDeleteI've had remarkable results w/ boring pests on my peach tree's by sprinkling Grub-Ex and/or other brands of time-released granules around the ground beneath out to the drip-line. Every fall and Spring they get a healthy shot. It's nearly eliminated Small Hive Beetle in my beehives, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip!
DeleteStefan Sobkowiak advocates trapping with oil containers filled with molasses water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn9dqDZ44xQ
ReplyDelete