Re: Iris Bud Fly
- To: i*@rt66.com
- Subject: Re: Iris Bud Fly
- From: E* G* <e*@moose.ncia.net>
- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:10:48 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 23 Jul 1996, Christopher Hollinshead wrote:
> I'd like to find out more about this particular problem.
> (The iris bud fly)
> I too have had an experience this year with them. Lost several siberian
> blooms to this pest. Anyone got any info on this? Controls?
This pest known as the iris bud fly (Orthochaeta dissimilis) favors
beardless irises but will `use' bearded iris to deposit its larvae
if no beardless are handy.
"Once hatched, the larva eats its way around the inside of the
flower and its preferred food seems to be pollen but it eats through style
arms and standards, too so that when the flower finally opens
the falls are usually intact but the standards, styles and anthers are all
in a mess." taken from an article by Marty Schafer in the Iris Society of
Massachusetts Newsletter - Spring 1996
Marty uses Cygon...so does Currier McEwen....to control the fly.
This pest was reported by the late Sarah Tiffney in Massachusetts
in 1978 and it appears to be increasing in Maine (according to
Currier's new book) and Ellen G. can attest to it being in
Northern New Hampshire....it has been reported as far south as
Virginia and it has also been identified in Western New York in
1994.
I have more info for those that are interested...
I also have seen a yellow larva in a destroyed bud...don't know
what it was...I have written to Currier and will write to Marty.
Some of my Japanese buds are also targets...still don't use any
chemicals - supposedly, this larvae doesn't do damage to the plant
itself just the bud & flower but if one is involved with a hybri-
dizing program, the essential reproductive parts are destroyed.
Ellen Gallagher e_galla@moose.ncia.net-
