3 2008-12-02T05:56:11-05:00 false This infestation of Bronze Orange Bugs (stink bugs/citrus BOBs) is serious. The first time I sprayed with pyrethrum, I must have killed at least 100 BOBs (and, sadly, there was some collateral damage in the form of a few local flying insects). A week or two later, and the tree was once again covered with visible bugs. I pyrethrum-sprayed again, and killed at least another 100 or more. Then, I ran out of pyrethrum spray. The thing is that they're only easy to see at the later stages of their life-cycle, so the 'new generation' showed up after a bit of a delay. And their presence is seriously impeding my ability to enjoy the bounty of ripening fruit on this tree! First off, who wants to go out and pick lemons when there's immense armies of toxic bugs to battle? And then there's the fact that their mass sap-sucking can ruin the fruit, and cause it to drop. I checked the tree again today and once again, more visible BOBs than I could count, clustered heavily on the fruit-bearing branches. What to do? I was out of pyrethrum, and had no money to buy more nor ability to get to a gardening store to purchase it. Besides, I'm just not really into the idea of it- I don't like the collateral damage, and there's no denying that it's a poison I'm putting out into the world. So I decided to give Jackie French's '"pikelet spray":http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=113121' recipe a shot. The idea, essentially, is to batter the bugs in a flour/water mix that dries and gums them up so they can't move. These bugs don't move much, or at all- they seem quite willing to sit there and let me spray them with anything at all, the immovable clods- so I thought this tactic might work. It was the virgin outing of my new sprayer, which is to the crappy, flimsy little plastic K-Mart spray bottle I had been using as an AK-47 is to a slingshot. It's big (2L), it's got pump-action, and wow does it have range! Spraying BOBs with this thing was FUN. It even kept spraying when I leant backwards and sprayed it directly upwards. I will never, ever return to the land of the flimsy spray bottle with it's limp little gasps of whatever it is I'm spraying! So I had a blast spraying the BOBs- it was like target practise, seeing if I could get the ones up the top of the tree and on the hard-to-reach branches. I knocked one BOB off it's branch and it fell into a spiderweb below, hung there fluttering angrily for a bit, and then the spider launched itself forward and killed it! Awesome! I thought, _that spider is my ally in the war on BOBs, no way do I want to be using poisons that will kill him too_. I don't know yet if my application of batter to the BOBs was effective- I sprayed late in the afternoon and it would take a while for the batter to set & gum up the works, if it was going to. I'll check back tomorrow. It's possible that the spray I was using was a little thin, so even if it hasn't worked I might give it another go with a thicker spray (and in the morning, when there's enough sun to dry the mix faster). I will return to pyrethrum if I have to- there's no way I can leave this infestation untreated, it'd be ridiculous and irresponsible- but I'd much, much rather be battering the BOBs than poisoning them and every other bug around. And with my trusty new sprayer on my side, weekly target practise won't even be a chore. 1 false 37283 false false false Entry 22046 Planting 2008-12-01T19:00:00-05:00 DMY Public 2008-12-02T05:56:11-05:00 346 Overcast 22 C