M. Korsz

I’m on vacation near Williamsburg Virginia till Friday and wanted to ask a very long shot of a question. Does anyone happen to know exactly where any wild fig trees are growing near Williamsburg?  Was hoping to get some cuttings or dig up a small sapling if any are growing wild in the woods or a park. Wanted to bring some wild figs back to NJ that are wild and may be more cold tolerant.

I know its not likely anyone from the area is on here but FIGured it couldn’t hurt.

Thank you!

I grafted some figs that also leafed out and started growing but then failed.  Only one of them survived. I think the issue I had which sounds like yours as well, is the growing medium was too wet. I believe it was root rot that killed mine.

I have not tried it yet but I think using a growing medium with added vermiculite and perlite would help out. I believe it would hold water but not too much.

Another thing that is supposed to help, which I also have not tried yet, is utilizing a grow may to heat the cuttings from the bottom. This encourages root growth and does not dry out the top portion of the cutting.

I cut all of the infected branches off except for one which has a graft that I want to keep. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it on there until next spring then cut the graft off and re-graft it then cut off the infected branch. Does anyone think wrapping the knots in a grafting type plastic would contain the spores? I really want to keep this one branch till next spring to move the graft.

I also mixed up a batch of bonide fruit tree spray with some added neem  oil and sprayed down the entire tree. I’m hoping that will help kill any of the remaining contagion.

I went from having a huge first crop of plums down to about three plums.  This is very disappointing. It was the first year the tree actually produced fruit.

Does anyone know of a spray that takes care of this type of infection for sure?

I have the same thing!!!  I have a bunch on my tree and not happy about it. This is the first year I am getting plums and have to cut off a bunch of them due to plum curculio.  Anyone have any info on this or a name for it?

Mason bee newbie trying to figure out what these creatures are....

    I had my mason bee block in the garage over the winter then moved it to the garage refrigerator when the weather started to climb into the 40's.  I know I should have harvested my mason bee cocoons during the winter, but I just never got around to it.  This past summer was my first year with mason bees so when I harvested my cocoons tonight, (which I only got 10!!!, not very happy) I found these strange larva in some of the trays.  I numbered them for easier identification.  

#1 - What the hell are these disgusting things?  As you can see they are walled off with mud and do move around a little even though it was in a cold garage (about mid 30's).  I believe they may be some kind of wasp larva, but not sure what kind.

#2 - I believe these may be those grass carrying wasps.  Not sure if that is there official name.  I think they paralyze prey and wrap them up with an egg for their larva to feed on.  

#3 - I have no idea what these are.  They are about 1/8" long...maybe a little longer.

#4 - These little cocoons were grouped together and I also found them in another area of the block.  

    Any help in identifying these would be helpful.  I don't know which of these if any are pests or predators of the mason bee.  I can send a high res picture if that helps take a closer look at some of the stuff.  

I bought 20 or 30 cocoons last winter to start off my mason bee block, but disappointingly only got 10 cocoons to harvest.  6 female and 4 male.  I think I may have gotten one....yes...1... leaf cutter cocoon also!!!  Does anyone have any suggestions for getting more mason bees to occupy my block?  It looks like I'm getting more of other insects using it than mason bees.  I left out a good mud supply near the block, I have a small plum tree, a big apple tree, and a small peach tree in the yard.  All three are within 30 yards of the mason bee house.  I also have my garden about 25' away also.  I figured this would be the perfect place for them to shack up.  The mason bee house gets sun from morning up until mid/late afternoon.  

Thank you for any info you may have.....and if anyone happens to have a pile of extra cocoons and might be looking for a way to get rid of a few, I may be interested.  LOL.  I will gladly cover shipping costs as long as you are not buying them a first class plane ticket!!

 

No one is saying they are completely useless and should be eradicated. These pictures are not 100% factual and are only for humor. Like the previous post said just laugh at them. Read them chuckle a little and move on.

I love these!  Post more!

I would like to try growing Paw Paw trees but do not know much about them. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a variety that would do good in northern New Jersey. I have never heard of this fruit until about a year ago so I have never tried it. Does anyone happen to have some extra seeds they could send me? Of course I would PayPal use some money to cover postage.

Any suggestions about how to grow them would be appreciated.