Yesterday, ben and i were working in the seabuckthorn and there were a number of issues that were current.
The first was a three year old, strong, healthy Klaudia plant was half striped of its leaves and covered in vapourer moth caterpillars (Orygia Antiqua). Attractive and beautiful though this caterpillar is, it is also very destructive. Last year they savaged a large German four year old bush. On the basis that I sprayed all bushes three weeks ago and there was nothing on this one, it is disappointing that I missed this. The response was manual removal, and as far as I know it is the only plant on the field with such an infestation. Yesterday 1200 plants were seaweed sprayed with no other signs of attack. The rest will be checked out tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if there are other plants in the same position.
It is also a time of year for micro moth caterpillars to start emerging. These emerge on the ends of stems and are characterised by the ends of leaves sticking together and twisting around the caterpillar. It not only provides a secure house for the caterpiller but also a feed source. My solution is regularly walking the rows and untwisting each leaf house and pulling out the offending bug.
Of the seven plants that I found with leaf disease issues I pruned them back yesterday. Two required no attention. In variety terms 2 elizaveta; 2 Inya; 1 Klaudia. Only two plants I would describe as being a problem. It will be interesting to see whether the disease spreads onto the rest of these plants are whether the prune has cut out the infection.
Following the last blog I thought that actually the problem that I need to solve is developing a healthy soil. So I have started composting the plants that I have weeded. 120 done yesterday. Each plant having been cleared of all plant growth 50cmx50cm around the stem is then pronged with an 8″ fork all around the plant. Then 5 shovelfuls of green waste compost around each. It looks like a long process, but it will cut out a lot of weed management over the summer.
That’s it – update on the dreaded vapourer moth early next week.
