tug of war

[AAAJacks]

From what I have heard from many people all over the US, the wasp has been introduced in many areas over the years, but it has failed due to a lack of knowledge. Generally, the knowledge regarding wasps/Caprifigs in many countries is poor at best, and the multitude of poor websites on the subject, certainly does not help. MANY people, even in Mediterranean countries, where figs have been cultivated for years, assume that because they plant a Caprifig tree, figs will be pollinated, and if they are not, they assume conditions are not suitable for wasps? Wasps need to be brought to the new trees, and at the receptive time or it will fail, it's a simple process.

I believe you are right. Another reason I think introduction to new areas has failed is, as in Condit's work the need for a breeding population the first time they tried the wasps were ok the first year but did not have enough babies to carry on the next year.

Don't quote me on this I might be wrong.

 

[4evercurious]

this carica distribution map shows that it stops at the border. makes you wonder if there are simply far fewer inaturalists in mexico. but if you go into the filter and uncheck "verifiable" you'll see several observations of carica being cultivated in mexico. i'm pretty sure that the limiting factor of carica's colonization of mexico is the desert. california is surrounded by desert, except for in the north, where the limiting factor is the cold.

i'm not sure how carica's wasp would handle florida's combination of heat, humidity and 50" of summer rain. if it survived, would it spread faster north or south? there's less rkn the further north, but then there's the issue of cold snaps.

i'm really curious if carica's wasp will be able to pollinate opposita x carica. if it can, and if the hybrid is resistant to rkn, then rkn wouldn't really limit "carica's" southerly distribution in florida.

SpiritFarmVa, yeah i think that microbiome does factor into rkn. i'm sure that rkn is a much bigger problem in a florida orange grove than in a pristine forest. florida natural farming (fnf) has said that nematodes haven't been a problem for him, but he's never tried growing any fig trees. i wouldn't be surprised if fig trees in fnf's farm grew much better than in an orange grove or in a garden with lots of lawn. in an optimally diverse microbiome there should be quite a few critters that want to eat rkn.

4evercurious, with this same logic, seems like there should be lots of predators that want to eat nutria. and what about kudzu? nutria eats everything and anything except for kudzu? yesterday on my youtube feed a video popped up about foraging kudzu. here in socal we have invasive mustard plant. the greens are delicious and nutritious, free and abundant, but hardly anyone harvests it. well, where are all the public service announcements (psa's)? they don't exist. but they really should.

just like it should have been the universities that 1st crossed carica with a sandpaper fig. again, there's always going to be a huge disparity between supply and demand when the demand is unknown.

next month i'm meeting with a usda researcher in miami to give him a seedling of opposita x carica. assuming he still has funding, and a job. in theory it should be relatively easy for the usda to quickly test the hybrid for rkn resistance.

i'm curious about relevant grant possibilities, assuming that they still exist.

a quick google search didn't supply any useful information about louisiana's attempt to introduce carica's wasp. was it lsu? why did it fail?

Epiphyte,

True funny story and relevant. With no offense to my Acadian-descended (Cajun) peers, I just had t-shirts made for the hubby and I based on a quote from a conversation in the Louisiana Fig Growers FB page - "Cajuns don't let squirrels stuff themselves with mirliton. They stuff the mirliton with squirrels." From what I have heard over the years, LSU kept really bad records of their fig inventory and breeding, labelling issues abounded. To add insult to injury, yes, squirrels and even young kiddos like a young 4evercurious (me) were notorious for raiding their ag farm patches and foraging.

I probably ate my weight in ill-gotten LSU farm figs as a child and teen. One year my high school's Senior class stole LSU chickens and set them loose in our main building. Heck, maybe I ate the poor caprifig's figs? At the time, I had no clue some of the figs I picked weren't meant to be eaten. I just thought some were "bad" or had spoiled.

Try looking at this mechanism (https://texasagriculture.gov/Grants-Services/Specialty-Crop-Block-Grant-Program). Each state has their own mechanism for this federal program, so this just gives you an idea of what the program is called. I have a few ideas that I'm happy to throw out there.

Best,
Heather

 

[Rob]

I believe you are right. Another reason I think introduction to new areas has failed is, as in Condit's work the need for a breeding population the first time they tried the wasps were ok the first year but did not have enough babies to carry on the next year.

Don't quote me on this I might be wrong.

I think that would be a common issue, 3 overlapping crops are essential if there is just one tree, so that is why is is best to have several trees, and it has been written in all of the old papers, so it is nothing new. Looking at a lot of the wasp/Caprifig information these days, you would think we were back in the late 1800's, it's pitiful.

 

[GoodFriendMike]

Epiphyte,

True funny story and relevant. With no offense to my Acadian-descended (Cajun) peers, I just had t-shirts made for the hubby and I based on a quote from a conversation in the Louisiana Fig Growers FB page - "Cajuns don't let squirrels stuff themselves with mirliton. They stuff the mirliton with squirrels." From what I have heard over the years, LSU kept really bad records of their fig inventory and breeding, labelling issues abounded. To add insult to injury, yes, squirrels and even young kiddos like a young 4evercurious (me) were notorious for raiding their ag farm patches and foraging.

I probably ate my weight in ill-gotten LSU farm figs as a child and teen. One year my high school's Senior class stole LSU chickens and set them loose in our main building. Heck, maybe I ate the poor caprifig's figs? At the time, I had no clue some of the figs I picked weren't meant to be eaten. I just thought some were "bad" or had spoiled.

Try looking at this mechanism (https://texasagriculture.gov/Grants-Services/Specialty-Crop-Block-Grant-Program). Each state has their own mechanism for this federal program, so this just gives you an idea of what the program is called. I have a few ideas that I'm happy to throw out there.

Best,
Heather

I keep telling my wife I need to make a really big pot of squirrel stew.
Not only is it good. But I may still have the wasp if I did it when I first mentioned it.