Texas Tree Selector

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Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought

Fungus as we know is very important in soil health and now....Bees.  The culprit is not one thing. It is a chemical soup.

When researchers collected pollen from hives on the east coast pollinating cranberry, watermelon and other crops and fed it to healthy bees, those bees showed a significant decline in their ability to resist infection by a parasite called Nosema ceranae. The parasite has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder though scientists took pains to point out that their findings do not directly link the pesticides to CCD. The pollen was contaminated on average with nine different pesticides and fungicides though scientists discovered 21 agricultural chemicals in one sample. Scientists identified eight ag chemicals associated with increased risk of infection by the parasite.

Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought — Quartz:

Pest Alert -- Aphids. What to do?

This is a short, simple, clear instruction and it takes only a couple of minutes to watch.


I recently found that my French Improved Plum (prune) were badly infested with aphids way beyond anything shown in the video.

The normal "insecticidal soap" mixture is below:
2.5 oz/once Safers soap (can use plain unscented dish soap)
2.5 oz vegetable oil
per gallon of water

My solution was a bit more severe.  I mixed up a soap solution that included a dose of an organic pesticide called Pyganic and another called Neem oil.  Neem is usful for combating fungus and I notice that a severe infestation of these trees encourages fungus  Proportions for my cocktail are as follows:

Pyganic 1.5 oz or 3 tblsp (this is all for 4 gal sprayer full)
5 oz of dish soap (I am leaving out the veggie oil as I am using neem or could add in some horticultural oil if neem were not needed for fungus that often results with aphid)
4 oz of neem oil

Since I have many very leafy trees to spray and badly infested I need a high pressure to hit the leaf to be effective at dislodging and distributing the solution.  To do this I use a hose siphon devise that sucks solution into the stream of the hose.  It is necessary to calibrate this application method. I found the specs below:

A 3/4" hose on full with 60 psi, a 22 degree fan on the nozzle puts out about 3 gallons a minute and sucks up about .125 gallons a minute which is a 1:24 ration. This is lower than the rated 1:16 which I assume is for an open flow such as could be used on a drench irrigation

For the cocktail above that takes 4x the 4 gallon sprayer quantity to make 15-16 gallon total which will be dispensed in a 5 minute duration. and sucks up .625 gallons of solution

Therefore:
Pyganic=6oz
soap=20oz
neem=16oz
total=42oz
water=38oz
total=80oz which is .625 gallons in a small bucket. for the syphon hose.

Caution:  This method gets water everywhere so wear gloves, long sleeves and a hat or a hood to protect your face.  Also spray just before sundown as the solution is more effective the longer it stays wet and also since it has neem in it which is bad for bees which are out in the daytime.  Also for repeat applications substitue veggie oil for the neem and leave out the Pyganic as these should be used infrequently.

Good luck.

Printed solar panels: An energy gamechanger for Australia?

Wow, this sounds exciting.  At 100 houses a day per printer and $400 per house, at scale couldn't we solarize the planet in just a short while?  There is the mater of inverters and controllers and a shortage of electricians.  How sad -- Jobs and more jobs from solar!  Trump will be so disappointed and the big oil guy will have to be put out to pasture to live out their days.  But this could be very fast and it is very exciting.

 Printed solar panels: An energy gamechanger for Australia?:



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