Until this year my organic approach was about as effective as yours. This year I went mostly with Pyganic (organic) which is a contact spray and it appears to kill both the aphids and the helper ants. I only spot spray the aphids and mostly on the tips of my newly planted vines. Sometimes depending on the weather I can get 4-5 days relief.
1 Like
This has caught tons of bugs (the fish love them), they dont zap the bug but catch them with a fan. The lights lasted 3,000 hours before have to replace them at $15. I replaced the light with some LED lights strips which I MacGyverd in the wiring. I thought about actually building my own if I need more. The lizards and frogs hang out on top catching bugs, sometimes the lizards go inside them and I have to release them in the woods.
1 Like
The Japanese beetles in my orchard prefer trees with Japanese heritage, such as Japanese plums. I guess that isn’t surprising. In any case, their favorite is a Japanese plum, or maybe plumcot, seedling that has fantastic fruit-but it’s a shy bearer in the best of years and was completely frozen out this year. It grows like a proverbial weed and seems to have no other flaws, so I keep it around despite rarely getting any fruit. I removed hundreds of beetles on it this year, and it didn’t seem bothered at all. The muscadines 75 feet away had one or two JBs.
1 Like
Elsewhere they are drawn to in-ground outdoor figs.
2 Likes
After seeing good results from other peoples use of Milky Spores I finally ordered the product and I’m looking forward to getting it in the soil. The twenty pound bags indicates that it will treat up to 7000 sq ft and works for 15-20 years. Thanks @scottfsmith
3 Likes
I’ve been killing Japanese Beetles for about six weeks and I didn’t see any this morning. I love my morning walk through my vineyard and orchard but constantly looking for beetles is exhausting. Milky Spores have been showing up and are getting good reviews so I jumped on the bandwagon. It’s my understanding that it takes a couple of seasons to significantly reduce the numbers. Is anyone else using or considering its use? Got my bag yesterday.
2 Likes
An inexpensive alternative to Gnatrol.
2 Likes
Pushing up the normal ripening time by sampling the ones that are turning but not ripe yet. This morning I tested out a Hall, Oh My, Black Beauty, and ?Sugargate. Black Beauty kicks butt for being pretty tasty for an early pick.
1 Like
5 Likes
Bird netting.
My electric wire as of now has prevented ground attacks from raccoons and opossums but I was getting a little concerned about an aerial invasion. I have a few 14x14 bird nets still in the package so I put on a couple today although I haven’t seen any signs of birds bothering the fruit. The two hawks I see regularly flying over might have the birds scared away.
3 Likes
@Auburn
I’m getting tired of the local crows dining on our grapes. There are also opossums living nearby who run across the tops of fences and then leap onto our grape 80’ trellis. This winter I’d like to renovate it into a walk-through aviary where the canes hang down from the 8’ ceiling and the birds + critters remain on the outside. I’ve already bought the parts.
2 Likes
How often do you pick your ripe muscadines, daily or less often? Do you wait until they are completely ripe, or pick if they are close?
1 Like
Richard sounds like you have a great plan. Hope you will post some pictures.
2 Likes
When I first started growing muscadines I picked them every few days and in some cases I harvested them before they had peak sweetness. Now that I’m not losing many fruit to critters I let them hang on the vines longer. It depends on the variety but Hall can be about 90% picked two times. Supreme tends to ripen erratically so they need more pickings. The Oh My pictured is going to be a learning experience and I plan to see if the fruit clusters will ripen even enough to pick like table grapes.
2 Likes
Thanks for the info. I only have one Carlos plant. I made my first picking of the year today, about 1.5 pounds. Your grapes look really good.
1 Like
Hall muscadine is absolutely delicious. I bought this plant and almost decided not to plant it. I was thinking just how good could a fruit be with a simple name like Hall. I was wrong, not only does it have a wonderful taste, it picks mostly with a dry scar and the skin also tastes good (my opinion). I have two Hall vines and the one I picked today was planted in 2021. Picked about 2.5 gallons today and it probably has another gallon on the vine.
8 Likes
I did a little more picking this afternoon. Oh My seedless on the left and Black Beauty on the right. They are washed and will be bagged after they dry.
10 Likes
Looks like I had a raccoon visit. What do you think? A few years back I had a whole 20’ trellis of Southern Home muscadines devastated in one night by what I’m pretty sure was raccoons. After a little soul searching I installed an electric wire that kicks on at night during the ripening period. No more problems until Tuesday night. Then I ask what would Columbo do? There was only a few eaten and they were drops that hung on my netting. As we all know raccoons don’t stop eating until they can barely waddell out of the yard. Now the good news at least as Columbo thinks is that the raccoon could slightly reach over the hot wire and ate few before his luck ran out. Zap, he tested again and got another zap and then left the vineyard in a hurry. Good news I checked again this morning and he didn’t come back as best I know.
2 Likes
I’ve had a good crop, but the raccoons, possums, and squirrels have been working overtime, leaving me harvesting only a handful a day. The good news is the muscadines have proved an excellent distraction from the figs and pawpaws, which have been mostly ignored by the wildlife.
1 Like
WOW!!! 2.5 gallons from a year old Hall! I’ve got some work to do on mine that I planted this year that’s only half way down the wire.
My Nesbit is finally starting to ripen. The other week I counted 103 grapes in various stages of ripening. Already had about 5 or so and everyone has been delicious. Can’t wait to start having harvests like yours in the coming years!
1 Like