It's the first week of March and the trees are bursting into bloom, Spring flowers are blooming,the grass is greening up and the war starts again.
This winter has been very mild. We haven't had a few days of freeze at all, just a couple of nights that dipped below freezing. I swear, I probably could have grown tomatoes outside this winter. This lack of a good freeze is not good. This is what happens:
Can you see it? Maybe I need to get a little closer...
Now I can see them clearly.
Arggh! It's way too early for pest wars!
These are in my Sultan plum tree. I've already removed and sprayed one nest. Today I found another. I'm using my organic bug soap from last year on these. It seems to stop them but I'm not sure if it's actually killing them (I need to go back and check). This plum tree produces the most tasty plums though I've only got to sample one lone plum split between me and my daughter. Last year we had no plums due to the storms blowing off all the blossoms and the fruit from the few that did set, also got blown off. The tree is covered with blooms this year and I'd really like to harvest a few plums.
I don't know if this cocoon is related to the caterpillars above or not. I thought I'd try to look up and see if it is before I removed it. The last thing I want to do is perpetuate more of these pests.
And so it starts another Texas gardening year!
I hate those bugs and their webby lairs!
ReplyDeleteWe live in coastal North Carolina and the winter has been super mild here and the mosquitos are already out so I feel your pain with that sometimes a good freeze is good for all the flora and for killing mosquitos. I agree the pest wars have begun here too! Thanks so much for linking up this week to The Ole' Saturday Homesteading Trading Post hope to see you again next Saturday!
ReplyDeleteUgh! What is that? Looks like the dreaded horn worms that were trying to eat my mater plants last year.
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