RE: Iris Budfly


Oops--typo.  I sprayed two TIMES before bloom stalked appeared.
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From: Mark, Maureen
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Iris Budfly
Date: Monday, June 16, 1997 9:28


I am seeing this for the first time this year.  Only the new TB buds that =
=3D
opened on the weekend are affected.  I am about peak season now.  None of =
=3D
the Siberians appear to be affected.   Will it take an additional spraying =
=3D
of Cygon?  We sprayed the normal two types before bloom.

Maureen
mark.maureen@fin.gc.ca
Ottawa -- where it didn't thunderstorm after all and we had cut all the =
=3D
stalks the day before the show (we came in second)
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From: Christopher Hollinshead
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Iris Budfly
Date: Monday, June 16, 1997 7:17

Last year Ellen Gallagher wrote:

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 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.

Chris writes in June 1997...
Unfortunately I have to report an occurrence of this problem again this
year.
The blooms of a couple of nice Siberians have been damaged by this pest.

Interestingly, it seems by casual observation that the beardless I.
versicolor which also grows very nearby in this garden is infested the
worst. (possibly the center of the infestation). Any documented or other

association here? Siberians close by are infected but those further away

are not showing any signs of problem (yet).  At this point it is still
very early in the Siberian season for us.

Borer infection also appears to centralize around this plant. No sprays
applied this year... yet.

I would be quite interested if anyone has any further information or
experiences in this area.

I'm reposting this as it seems like the posting did not go out to the
Iris List group.

 --
Christopher Hollinshead
Mississauga, Ontario  Canada  zone6b
AIS(Region 16), CIS, SSI
Director-Canadian Iris Society
Newsletter Editor-Canadian Iris Society
e-mail:  cris@netcom.ca
CIS website:  http://www.netcom.ca/~cris/CIS.html
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