Hello,
I have a small forest garden that includes (among many other plants) an Aronia bush and a Seckel pear tree. The Aronia bush gets attacked by lace bugs every year. They are small sucking insects, and every place they pierce a leaf for a meal, a brown spot develops. By the end of the season, the leaves are pretty ratty. It still produces a good amount of fruit, but there must be some loss of productivity, and the fall color is spoiled.
The other significant problem I have is pear scab on the Seckel pear. I picked Seckel because of its resistance to fireblight, but wasn't counting on scab being a problem. It made a few fruit last year, but this year it set dozens, and the majority have scab lesions.
From what I've read, an important approach to managing both of these problems is to remove all debris from under the plants to get rid of the overwintering insects and fungal spores. Obviously that doesn't fit in well with the forest gardening approach.
This fall I will rake up everything from under the pear tree and spread a layer of
compost, to see if that mitigates the scab problem. I can manage the lace bugs by hosing them off the Aronia bush a few times per season. In both cases, I'd prefer the dynamics of the garden to minimize the problems, but I don't know how to get that to happen.
I have lots of insectary plants and see lots of beneficial insects. Every spring my yarrow plants are swarming with aphids when they first emerge, but they're gone in a couple weeks, no doubt eaten by ladybugs and my other allies. For whatever reason, the lacebugs aren't targeted.
Any suggestions to resolve the conflict between forest gardening and orchard hygeine, or for my specific problems?
Alex
