Pine-tip Moth Larvae: What Works?

malhomme

Last year one of my JBPs in training was attacked by pine-tip moth larvae. When the tree was attacked I feared that they would spread to my other JBPs so I meticulously removed each worm from every infected tip. I counted one larva for each tip. It's a shohin that I am training for ramification so not a single bud/bug could have been missed. I even preserved 'em in alcohol.

This year I was determined to not be caught by 'em again, so two weeks ago I sprayed all my JBPs and mugo pines with Orthene (acephate). Last night I was inspecting my pines when lo, you guessed it, pine-tip moths again. This is the second year and on the same tree. It was dark so I had to wait until today to remove the larvae but I sprayed the pines with a mixture of Orthene and emulsified neem oil. To my great surprise, the larvae were still alive this afternoon! I picked 'em clean and incinerated the evidence.

So my question to all of you is this: this is the second year in a row that I have had trouble with pine-tip moth larvae... what will work to prevent them from infesting my JBPs? Any one else have experience with this pest?

Thanks,
Jim

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Bonsainut

Jim jim jimmy Jim,
O yes I have. I have noticed the same things as you mentioned. The same trees will be attacked year after year. And I use Isotox (Also A systemic) that takes a while to get them under control.

The problem is that by the time you see the yellowing of the new shoot the damage is been mostly done. So go back in time and spray with your systemic every 45 days for good protection. All you can do is start now and do better next year, thats called experience My friend.

One interesting thing. Since Kenji Miyata has been coming to our club the last three years his influence has tricked down to me. I cut almost every new bud on the tree And don't even worry as much about the PTM.

Something to chew on.

__________________
Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce

malhomme

Yeah, isn't it funny! The PTMs almost do the job for me. By the time I notice them it's time to cut the buds anyway, and they have made their damage in the right place.

The caveat to this is that on shohin JBPs I would like to wait later (a month and a half later) to cut this years buds, to reduce needle length on show trees. Luckily, this has only effected a tree in training.

I'll begin spraying ealier next year. I'm not familiar with Isotox. Is it better for this than Orthene?

LOL

Cheers,
Jim

Bonsainut

thanks Jim,

Isotox Contains Orthene® systemic insecticide and Vendex® for mite control, just has that little extra bang for the buck. rock on!

__________________
Keep growing,---'Nut



Lethal Use of Farce

Jerry Meislik

One thing that seemed to work for me was a dormant oil spray in the fall before dormancy. Another spray repeated in the spring before bud growth.
This seemed to stop the bugs.
Hope this helps.
Jerry

__________________
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/

malhomme

Thanks, Jerry! I've never thought to use dormant oil sprays before. I'm assuming that you are talking about a product like Volk Oil? In Japan they sometimes dip their JPBs in a very dilute solution of lime-sulphur, but that still whitens the bark a little. I'll try a dormant spray this year and see if it helps!

Thanks,
Jim