BFF body count !

Fig gazer is Ground Zero for the BFF War. If / when he defeats the BFF it will be the beginning of the end for the invasion. Reason being his soil has been well colonized by the BFF so they're constantly coming up from the ground. They don't travel to his yard as much as they wake up, coming up from the ground in his home Orchard several times a year.
 
Russ1962 said:
I also get mold on some of them. Panache gets hit pretty hard for some reason. I'm about 15 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, so my micro-climate is probably a bit different than yours. I do get the coastal fog and moisture that lingers until noon and keeps everything moist. On those days, the bags stay wet for too long.
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SOUNDS SIMULAR TO MY MICRO CLIMATE I AM MAYBE 2 MILES FROM OCEAN SO COSTAL FOG DOES NOT BURN OFF TILL NOON TILL 3PM . WET BAGS ARE NOT GOOD FOR FIGS !!!
 
Russ1962 said:
Yes, that would be a possible solution. But the organza bags all seem to be made of the same size mesh that keeps both wasp and BFF out. I'm still looking for bags made of the right sized mesh. Luckily, the majority of my figs don't need the wasp. I still have 300 bags ready to deploy.
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That’s what I was thinking. You would need the exact correct size mesh. I don’t know what size that would be though
 
Figless said:
Fig gazer is Ground Zero for the BFF War. If / when he defeats the BFF it will be the beginning of the end for the invasion. Reason being his soil has been well colonized by the BFF so they're constantly coming up from the ground. They don't travel to his yard as much as they wake up, coming up from the ground in his home Orchard several times a year.
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I think it's more than just his soil. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of feral fig trees in and around Santa Barbara. Same for my area. I live in the Avocado/Citrus belt and fig trees are growing wild everywhere. We have colonies of BFF all around us. It's a big battle for sure!
 
Russ1962 said:
I think it's more than just his soil. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of feral fig trees in and around Santa Barbara. Same for my area. I live in the Avocado/Citrus belt and fig trees are growing wild everywhere. We have colonies of BFF all around us. It's a big battle for sure!
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I'm curious... do you know what commercial fig growers are doing? Someone like Nutra Fig maybe?
 
SO FAR THE BFF HAS NOT MADE IT TO THE MAJOR COMERCIAL FIG ORCHARDS .THERE IS A PESTICIDE COCTAIL THAT WILL CONTROLL THERE INFESTATION FAZE BUT IT IS NOT AT ALL ORGANIC AND NOTHING I WANT TO EAT ! Not clear how BFF is tolerated in the mediteranian ???
 
TorontoJoe said:
I'm curious... do you know what commercial fig growers are doing? Someone like Nutra Fig maybe?
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Honestly, I don't know.
Some of our Universities are currently working with the California Dept. of Agriculture to monitor and develop strategies for controlling/eliminating them.
Hopefully they start making progress, soon!
 
Fig Gazer said:
SO FAR THE BFF HAS NOT MADE IT TO THE MAJOR COMERCIAL FIG ORCHARDS .THERE IS A PESTICIDE COCTAIL THAT WILL CONTROLL THERE INFESTATION FAZE BUT IT IS NOT AT ALL ORGANIC AND NOTHING I WANT TO EAT ! Not clear how BFF is tolerated in the mediteranian ???
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Would their pesticide not also affect the wasp?

BFF has been in Europe for a long time but we’ve never had much issue with it either in Sicily or Calabria. At least not my family. Perhaps it being native there are more natural predators.

I saw a couple times where some larger growers talked about covering entire rows of trees with 17 mesh netting. But they weren’t around where we are. I think that’s done more in in Turkey

Right now at the place in Sicily the bigger problem we have is a similar fly that’s attacking the olive trees. It seems wide spread I’m sure many have noticed the price of olive oil lately
 
TorontoJoe said:
Would their pesticide not also affect the wasp?

BFF has been in Europe for a long time but we’ve never had much issue with it either in Sicily or Calabria. At least not my family. Perhaps it being native there are more natural predators.

I saw a couple times where some larger growers talked about covering entire rows of trees with 17 mesh netting. But they weren’t around where we are. I think that’s done more in in Turkey

Right now at the place in Sicily the bigger problem we have is a similar fly that’s attacking the olive trees. It seems wide spread I’m sure many have noticed the price of olive oil lately
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Olive oil prices lately?
Yes, I've noticed.
Paying upwards of $50 USD for a 500ml bottle of the Italian oil my wife likes.
 
Russ1962 said:
Olive oil prices lately?
Yes, I've noticed.
Paying upwards of $50 USD for a 500ml bottle of the Italian oil my wife likes.
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Yeah…. The olive fly is very similar to BFF and does similar damage. Between that and the wildfires recently the crops have been getting decimated.

The family trees don’t get sprayed. My cousins have loads of these bottle/fish traps hanging on all the trees… maybe something to try for BFF…. But then you have fish in bottles hanging from your trees. I’ll see if I can find a picture
 
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