I suspect this isn’t a practical idea, but has anyone tried spraying figs with Surround at ripening to keep SWD and yellow jackets off? We’re having a wet fall so the figs are quite swollen and spoiled easily by any insects.
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I used to spray Surround on apricots and peaches. It was difficult to wash off. I don’t know how you would wash Surround off or be OK eating Surround-covered figs.
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I’d probably be ok with Surround covered figs, but I suspect the rest of my family would be a hard sell!
To me, it did make the taste and texture of the fruit a little off depending how much Surround I could scrub off.
Can you use material used for a mosquito net to cover your trees?
I don’t think Surround would help much with those pests, but I never tried. I mainly rely on traps.
I don’t wash the Surround off my fruit and I never notice it in the taste. But I mainly am putting it down in the earlier part of the season so nearly all is gone from harvested fruit.
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You need a two-story mosquito house!!
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A lot of the figs crack with heavy moisture. Surround powder would just spoil those figs. So I won’t spray anything on figs. We often eat figs fresh off the trees.
I can’t even get near my figs. Hornets have them locked down with patrols to keep me away.
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Why not use organza bags?
For a couple, sure, but it’s dozens per day.
Hornets and yellow jackets are much worse this year on my figs than they’ve ever been before. One tree was really covered with splitting figs, so I just would up cutting anything close to ripe off, letting the few that were close ripen inside, and tossing the rest so there wouldn’t be anything for them to eat for a day or so. That seemed to break the cycle, but would be hard on larger plants.
I bought traps and they don’t even pay them any mind. They only want fruit. I did notice that they fly at night and are attracted to light, so I am thinking about trying a bug zapper.
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Why not net them?
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Try a bug Zapper with a cut piece of fruit inside before the figs start to ripen.
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I have one fig tree/more like a bush… Chicago hardy… 3 yr old. It has 10 shoots and some are over 10 ft tall… loaded with figs. We have been getting ripe figs since aug 20.
When they first change from green to brownish purple… I put a 4x6 organza bag on… tie it tightly… so even the ants cant get in. 3…4…5 days later perfectly ripe figs… no damage at all.
Right now I probably have 20 or so bagged.
As I harvest a few… I just move those bags to the next ones that are entering that early ripening stage.
I have 50 4x6 bags… this is working great for me.
Good Luck.
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