You are very right about allowing chicken to eat the bugs under trees. I believe the main problem with pests in modern gardens is that where are tree, there should be house animals. I lived in Ukraine and each family in village had not only garden, but chicken, gees, ducks, goats, and so on. They would go around trees and dick all pests out the ground. There never was any issue with pests.
Gophers! The bane of my existence. I'll have to try the gopher hawk soon. I've done gopher cages on two of my fruit trees (3 years old now) but don't know how that'll go over in the long run.
Gopher cages are a GREAT proactive measure against burrowing pests. We missed that boat, so now the gopher hawk and squirrelenater are our main weapons
I think the scattershot "disease" on the nectarine and related trees is actually from the copper fungicide. I had the exact same thing happen to my double delight nectarine last year when I tried to apply copper after seeing fungus on a few leaves. The cure seemed worse than the fungus in the end. I think the copper spray needs to be used before bud break and afterwards, something gentler like neem oil is probably better for trying to limit spread of fungal disease once leaves develop.
New one in So Cal: the Black Fig Fly. No harm to my trees, but suddenly in 2023 here in San Bernardino County it’s destroying a large number of my fig fruits before they get a chance to properly ripen. ☹️ I’m trying to learn to spot it BEFORE the larva emerges and leaves behind its tiny exit hole. Also trying to figure out how early I would need to bag a fruit to avoid the egg from being laid at all. On RU-vid, the Figs and Chocolate guy has a couple of very good videos on the topic. Has this cropped up in the Busy Garden yet?
Oh man! I hate those ground squirrels!! With a passion! I’ve been using goodnature A2 trap with great success! And feeds my local hawks/owls. The dead bodies disappear so quickly 8 dont even have to clean it up
I battled Cucumber beetles, thrips and ground squirrels (someone apparently relocated some here a few years ago). The bugs have been so bad on my flowers, especially the Dahlias. I have tried yellow sticky paper, yellow solo cups on posts with sticky stuff and yellow solo bowls with soapy water to no avail. Tried clove oil on the sticky papers-no luck. Caught lots of gnats. I don't want to spray because of the bees. I sprayed some spinosad once but found lots of bumble bees sleeping in the Dahlias. I did have good luck on the thrips and aphids using Ladybugs and Lacewings. I grow these as a business so it is a problem. The squirrels eat my tomatoes, I have pretty good luck if I pick them shortly before they are rips. We also have a large field of pumpkins, they didn't seem to be bothered but there were lots of beetles flying around them. They also eat strawberries. :(. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. I live in S. Oregon.
Horticultural oil is a great option to contain overwintering insects because it smothers their eggs, and doesn't affect bees. Neem oil is a good option if upped spraying at times bees aren't active. Keep creating a great space for predators! You've got a lot going on, for sure.
I'm in Esco, I'm dealing with June Beatles and gophers that are making my life difficult. We have a few resident predatory birds but it hasn't been enough. I got a Dogo Argentino that digs out gophers and ground squirrels pretty fast but also tears up my yard but it's worth it. My passion fruit vines were decimated by passion butterflies that was my bad because I didnt control it when they first started coming around.
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