Wait, what???

@TorontoJoe One thing that has helped me a lot with many pests, I think, is removing certain fig varieties that I call pest magnets. Mostly of the sugar and honey type. I had what seemed like a billion of wasps and hornets digging into my figs two years ago, less so last year and not that many this year, after I culled the worst offenders, like LDA, Improved Celeste, some LSU varieties, etc. I haven't had any possums come this season yet, while I had quite a few in prior years. This season, I noticed that the coons that came they hit a couple of my trees particularly hard, while barely or didn't even touch others that had ripe figs on them. Sweet, light berry figs seem to attract them a lot. I also put up a humming bird feeder this year and see a lot of wasps on it and fewer around my figs.
 
Figgin' A said:
@TorontoJoe One thing that has helped me a lot with many pests, I think, is removing certain fig varieties that I call pest magnets. Mostly of the sugar and honey type. I had what seemed like a billion of wasps and hornets digging into my figs two years ago, less so last year and not that many this year, after I culled the worst offenders, like LDA, Improved Celeste, some LSU varieties, etc. I haven't had any possums come this season yet, while I had quite a few in prior years. This season, I noticed that the coons that came they hit a couple of my trees particularly hard, while barely or didn't even touch others that had ripe figs on them. Sweet, light berry figs seem to attract them a lot. I also put up a humming bird feeder this year and see a lot of wasps on it and fewer around my figs.
Click to expand...
Very helpful observations, @Figgin' A . I have IC and LDA. Could you share others? LSU Tiger is the only other one I have of LSUs.

I may have to watch out for Sefrawi, Turkish Delight, Peter's honey, Orphan, YLN, and Lattarulla, based on your description of the general category of attraction.
 
FigLab said:
Very helpful observations, @Figgin' A . I have IC and LDA. Could you share others? LSU Tiger is the only other one I have of LSUs.

I may have to watch out for Sefrawi, Turkish Delight, Peter's honey, Orphan, YLN, and Lattarulla, based on your description of the general category of attraction.
Click to expand...
I don't want to discourage you or any other grower from growing tasty figs just because Figgin' A said they attract bugs :LOL:
My family and I happen not to like honey and sugar figs much, so it's easy for us to pass on those. I have the ability to grow just about any fig varieties here because I'm able to headstart them; others don't, so getting rid of super early varieties like Improved Celeste or Iranian Candy, especially if you like that kind of flavor profile, is not the smartest idea. I think you kind of need to look at all aspects of it before deciding on what to keep. But, like I said, I've noticed a lot less pest pressure once I removed most of the sugar, honey, and some less favorite light berry figs from my backyard. Some of those were wide open eye figs, like LDA, OMG, wasp loved them, they go in and out of those wide open ostioles like it was a barn door. LDA spoiled easily in my climate too, so it attracted a ton of fruit flies very quickly. The point is to keep an eye on your trees and identify problematic ones, and see if you could replace them with better varieties. It will help with your sanity in the long run.
 
Figgin' A said:
I don't want to discourage you or any other grower from growing tasty figs just because Figgin' A said they attract bugs :LOL:
My family and I happen not to like honey and sugar figs much, so it's easy for us to pass on those. I have the ability to grow just about any fig varieties here because I'm able to headstart them; others don't, so getting rid of super early varieties like Improved Celeste or Iranian Candy, especially if you like that kind of flavor profile, is not the smartest idea. I think you kind of need to look at all aspects of it before deciding on what to keep. But, like I said, I've noticed a lot less pest pressure once I removed most of the sugar, honey, and some less favorite light berry figs from my backyard. Some of those were wide open eye figs, like LDA, OMG, wasp loved them, they go in and out of those wide open ostioles like it was a barn door. LDA spoiled easily in my climate too, so it attracted a ton of fruit flies very quickly. The point is to keep an eye on your trees and identify problematic ones, and see if you could replace them with better varieties. It will help with your sanity in the long run.
Click to expand...
😆 Thank you - well put! I think, as you say, in the end, the decision to cull is so multi-faceted.

My favorite profile is berry - especially the ones with the acidic dimension amid the sweetness, so I will test and hold the honey and sugar types lightly.
 
Figgin' A said:
@TorontoJoe One thing that has helped me a lot with many pests, I think, is removing certain fig varieties that I call pest magnets. Mostly of the sugar and honey type. I had what seemed like a billion of wasps and hornets digging into my figs two years ago, less so last year and not that many this year, after I culled the worst offenders, like LDA, Improved Celeste, some LSU varieties, etc. I haven't had any possums come this season yet, while I had quite a few in prior years. This season, I noticed that the coons that came they hit a couple of my trees particularly hard, while barely or didn't even touch others that had ripe figs on them. Sweet, light berry figs seem to attract them a lot. I also put up a humming bird feeder this year and see a lot of wasps on it and fewer around my figs.
Click to expand...

Very good insight. Thanks for sharing. I’ve never considered which trees specifically were attracting more of the pests. I’m going to keep an eye on this now
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top