The Biosphere Blog

I loved reading your story Jim, thank you so much for your input!

(I absolutely agree with you that these bags and sleeves are not the best way to go for an orchard, or even for a single large tree for that matter. I brought these in for the small and young trees I sell, for which they are superbly suited. Later I’ll be supplying larger nets for larger trees. )

Back to your comment - without a doubt nets are everything you say. And who likes pesticides, really? For sure initial net setup costs can be eye-watering, and they do require a good chunk of time and effort, but they pay for themselves over and over and over. Pesticides are ongoing and non-stop.

I used to bait only (pheromones), and still do, but these days I do this so as to monitor numbers, and also to try and reduce those numbers for next season. One downside to nets is that they simply encourage fruit fly to move on to easier targets. I do think it’s just as important to eradicate the fruit fly as much as possible whilst they’re there.

The local insectivorous birds may help in this regard too. 

Thanks for the tip regarding rats chewing through at ground level. You inspired me to post my homemade rat bait recipe :)
Here: https://jujubetrees.com.au/the-biosphere-blog/an-effective-homemade-rodenticide

Nothing more than plaster of Paris and a foodsource, but it absolutely works, so long as it is kept dry at all times. Very easy to scale quantities up or down too.

Thanks too for the insight on foxes/dogs being partial to persimmons, the things we learn!

Thank you again, Kristi

Hello Kristi, we’ve been using exclusion netting for nearly 20 years for fruit fly control and have no pesticide use due to severe allergies. Started off using mosquito nests but these would become fragile after a couple of seasons before moving onto nets of the same type you used. We also made bags like you used but found them very fiddly when covering hundreds of fruit on multiple trees. As the trees developed we had around about 40 trees fruiting at various times over November through May (coinciding with fruitflies) we changed to long nets up to 25m long and 10m wide to cover 6 or 7 trees at once. By planting similar maturing time fruit trees together, we could use the same covers up to 3 times each year for early, mid and late season trees. People would say its too expensive and a lot of work, but in reality it was always perfectly ripe tastey fruit, no loss due to bugs and the nets are still going well after about 16 years. Unfortunately rats will chew their way through the nets at ground level. If they’re secured at ground level, birds and other critters will stay out. I once had a fold in the net around a persimmon tree then tied at the tree trunk. A fox decided it loved ripe persimmons as much as we did (and dogs love them too), so it pushed its way around the fold got it’s head in and returned several times before I realised something was eating the fruit, not that I had them numbered, but realised some were disappearing.  A trail camera caught the culprit. I always pack nets away at the end of each season and start putting them out mid October.  Regards Jim 

Unfortunately their own site just adds to the confusion!
https://www.awm.gov.au/shop/lone-pine-seedlings

They state that the Aleppo pine is the Lone Pine, and also sell trees descended from the cones brought back by Benjamin Smith from branches on the Turkish trenches (Aleppo), not trees descended from the cone collected by Thomas Keith McDowell from the remains of the Lone Pine itself (Turkish).

Fair enough! Query just then sent in writing and if I hear anything I’ll be sure to let everyone know!

Do you think the Australian War Memorial Canberra would have any knowledge on the topic?

I still reckon you should give it a go.

Because unfortunately, as well-meaning as they may be I will never have confidence in the answer.

The tree was planted circa 1965 and the plaque’s ambiguity itself implies unreliable records of the time.

Also to confuse things more (!) Pinus brutia was once and apparently is still considered by some as a subspecies of Pinus halepensis, which just complicates naming matters further!

More complications again (!) is that the two are also regarded as a species complex, which means they are very hard to distinguish from each other. Knowing that will just make me question any answer I would receive - especially if the staff don’t know of that fact themselves.

I hope that helps?

Why not refer this to the Wollongong Botanic Gardens and ask for a determination?

Thanks! And so cool to have seen one in your travels! 

But I so wish the naming confusion could be sorted for once and for all.

Because of the confusing sign at the botanic garden, I truly don’t know if the one there is Pinus brutia (THE Lone Pine, or Turkish Pine) or Pinus halepensis (Aleppo Pine).

And ditto the tree in Victoria! The article states at top the Lone Pine is Pinus brutia, and yet goes on to say the planted tree is an Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) and a descendent of the Lone Pine, as does the accompanying photo of the plaque.

Oh well! They’re beautiful trees regardless, and I find it somewhat fitting that they look a lot like Aussie gums from a distance.

Great read, very informative. Caught my eye as we visited an Aleppo Pine recently on a return trip from Victoria at Bemm River.  Found it online https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1/display/110339-aleppo-pine-

Thanks!

Lovely article and especially so as there is a strong and direct family connection through your great-grandfather.

LOL, that’s quite a flex there GG :)

Most impressive indeed, thanks for sharing!

What a lovely gift to the garden residents!  I’m not surprised it was snapped up, we see insects scouting for opportunities like this all the time on our verandah.  I made half a doz 4 years ago, they’re such a fantastic inclusion, we see predatory wasps returning with stunned caterpillars and larvae all day long!  It’s truly incredible how many insects benefit from these!  Nice work & good luck identifying!

Bee-lieve me Sandra, hotel-ya that was bee-loomin’ awful!

But thank you! I’ll be watching the hotel itself for further developments - would so love to catch one of those cuties in the act - fingers crossed for updates!

Kristi

Hi Kristi,

Very exciting news regards the recent occupancy of your Bee Hotel! You must bee alated! I will watch this space for further developments :-)

Sandra.

Thanks! It’s always a compromise between writing something ten times longer explaining every technical detail, or keeping it brief with links for people to follow if interested.

An absolutely fascinating and excellently presented article; it has to be read more than once though to get around the long words!

Oh wow, that is absolutely incredible, thanks for sharing! I too was jamming multiples into pots, mainly as a space-saver, which is why the two survivors aren’t in the middle - the others around them had long given up the ghost.

What length cuttings did he use would you say please?

That’s not a bad idea at all, thanks! I’d certainly like to do a deep dive into the physiology going on at that level.