Our old Golden Hornet crabapple has reached the end of its useful life. It was not a tree we'd grafted ourselves, so we don't know which root-stock it was on, but which ever it was, it wasn't a long-laster. Nor was it a disease-resistant root-stock, I'm guessing, and the poor thing suffered woolly aphid over the past few years and succumbed to the pest finally, so I cut it down today. I cut it up also, into pieces small enough to burn, the best treatment for a heavy infestation of woolly aphid.
Here's the fire. The tree burned well, helped along by a core of dry eucalyptus branches.
No more woolly aphid.
No more Golden Hornet.
We'll, not quite. We have another that we grafted a couple of year's back and that's growing healthily in another part of our food forest. It'll begin fruiting this year.
2 comments:
The flames look very Golden Hornet-ish :)
Ha!
They were indeed.
The Golden Hornet is valued in an orchard for it's extended blossoming, providing pollen for the bees from the start to the finish of the whole orchard's pollination period. They are pretty little yellow crabs, but not the best for jelly. Some of the sharper reds produce better taste and colour.
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