Up and down the realm peoples plants are being mysteriously eaten.
All sorts of plants in the garden, some untouched where others are decimated and when checked; there is no sign of any culprits.
I have a nashi pear tree which a customer to our warehouse in Marton spotted damage.
He said that he lives in the country and the damage to my tree was the same as he has damage to his trees that is caused by possums.
He said you’re in the middle of Marton far away from any likelihood of any possums.
Well that’s not quite right as I do have a possum that I have seen on my security camera that walks along the top of the galvanised iron fence most nights.
(In my office at home I have camera surveillance of our warehouse and shop next door which allows me to keep an eye on things while working in my office).
One evening a few months ago I was working on my desktop computer and a movement on the camera screen caught my attention and there was a large possum gaily tripping along the top of the fence.
There is a fence post in that camera view so every so often late in the day I put half an apple nailed to the top of the post for (my now pet feral possum)
I have caught and filmed the possum happily sitting in front of the camera enjoying his/her apple.
As I have some big trees in the front of the property and even bigger at the rear so likely that’s where my possum spends it days and goes walk about at night.
If you are in the country side and have possums eating your roses and fruit trees the best remedy that I am aware of is to spray Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil on the plants that are being damaged.
The Neem oil tastes horrible and if any possum, rabbits etc have a nibble on the plant thus sprayed then they will hate the taste and associate the taste with the Neem smell.
Once you are sure that the culprit has had a taste of the oil then you simply sprinkle some Wallys Neem Tree Granules on the ground or higher up hang a small gauze pouch with the granules inside.
The problem many are facing is not possums but a critter by the official name of Costelytra zealandica which from the name you can tell the beetle is indigenous to New Zealand.
It is our native grass grub beetle and because of its bronze colour is also called the Bronze Beetle.
Before settlers from Europe came to NZ the beetle’s grubs were quite content to feed on the roots of the native grasses while Kiwis and other native birds would dig them out of the ground for a bit of grub protein.
Thus populations of Costelytra zealandica was kept in balance back in those times.
The settlers cleared native bush and planted grass seeds to feed stock and suddenly as with any species when there is an abundance of food and few predators the population expand dramatically!
This time of the year the beetles hatch out and climb to the soil surface; to eat and reproduce.
The grass grubs eat the roots of grasses causing extensive damage as there are thousands of them and when mature they become beetles which during their short life devour foliage of various plants.
DDT used to be used to control the grubs in paddocks but that was banned because of the long-term harm the chemical does.
It is in the autumn after the autumn rains have moistened the soil that the grubs have reached near the surface feeding on the grass roots.
If at that time you want to prevent damage in your lawn then sprinkling Wallys Neem Tree Powder over a freshly mowed lawn and given a light watering to settle the powder onto the soil surface will help control.
If available the lawn should then be rolled to press the powder into the moist soil.
The oil in Wallys Neem Tree Powder will leach out and get onto the grasses roots where the grubs are feeding and thus stop eating and starve to death.
Birds will be a good indication that you have grubs near the surface as the birds will be digging to get the grubs.
There is two ways to get the beetles and reduce damage to your plants, make up Wallys Super Pyrethrum into a trigger sprayer at 1 mils per litre of water (double the normal rate of one mil to two litres of water) and after dark go out with a torch and spray the beetles directly where they are.
This is a quick knock down and needs to be repeated every night when it is not raining or too windy.
The second way is to use a Sansai Insect Killer which is plugged into the 230 and facing out to the garden where the beetles are active. (Readily available, do a google search).
The beetles are attracted to the UV light and the high voltage grid incinerates them.
You must make sure that the device is protected against rain, being electric.
It only need to operate for a few hours starting about dusk and likely turned off and brought inside by about 9 or 10pm.
It will also attract and kill other night insects such as codlin moth and guava moths.
I have heard some amazing stories about the bronze beetle where people in the countryside at dusk hear a sound and then see in the sky a cloud of beetles on the wing like a swarm of bees, thousands of them heading to the trees to feed.
Image credit: Siobhan Leachman, CC0
Products mentioned are from Wallys Range of products and can be found in some garden shops or by Mail Order on www.0800466464.co.nz
Problems ring me at: Phone 0800 466464
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