Re: CULT: Borer detection
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: CULT: Borer detection
- From: B* S* <b*@tiger.hsc.edu>
- Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 10:44:44 -0600 (MDT)
>Sharyn Hedrick wrote:
>>
>> Rick said to spary again in late fall as well. Is this after the leaves die
>> back, Rick?
>>
>
>If you mean Rick Tasco, then it was not me that said the above. We
>(fortunately) do not have borers in CA. I'm sure someone else will help
>you.
>
>Rick Tasco
>Superstition Iris Gardens
>Central California
>Zone 8
I don't think spraying in the fall would do much good. By this time the
borers have left the rhizomes and are pupating in the ground nearby. Two
spring sprayings with a systemic insecticide are usually recommended,
separated by about ten days. The first spraying should be done when the
leaves are 6" tall.
I had grown complacent about borers. I followed the conventional wisdom
that they are not usually found south of Washington DC--since that time
members of this list and others have reported them as far south as
Tennessee and South Carolina. Last spring I saw some suspicious damage on
I. pseudacorus and I. foetidissima. "Nah--can't be." But it was. And
this year the borers devastated my Louisiana bed. I failed to spray until
it was too late. While I was away in Canada and Scotland, the borers
evidently left their original homes and moved on to other, nearby rhizomes.
My Louisiana bed was almost wiped out, certainly with 75% losses. I've
learned my lesson and will spray next year.
There should be some good material in the archives on borers.
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@tiger.hsc.edu>
