Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, May 23, 1981, Image 132
Dl2—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 23,1981 UNIVERSITY PARK - Nestled contentedly amidst succulent new green foliage, billions of fuzzy black caterpillars now are feasting on and starting to defoliate trees in most of the state. These gypsy moth larvae will begin their permanent descent in June an event that will alarm Pennsylvanians confronted by denuded or partially bare trees, and caterpillars everywhere un derfoot. Seeking to protect trees and to destroy the invaders, many people then will spray with insecticide or hire someone to do so. Some will drape burlap around tree trunks to capture and later kill Berks dairyman (Continued from Page Dll) Duncan praises a recent change m the parlor, a De Laval DV 300 milking unit with automatic take off. “The pulsation starts off slow, and, as the milk flow gets stronger, it goes to 70 pulses per minute. When the cow is milked out, the button goes down and the claws come off,” he explains. “It’s the fastest way to get the milk out of a cow,” he adds, noting his mastitis rate has come down since he changed from a non automatic unit. Duncan attributes his reduced mastitis count to other factors: the low-line with its 3-mch stainless steel pipe and 3-mch vacuum line, dry udders before the milker is put on the cow, and treating teats with a dip. “The low-line produces a stable vacuum we milk at 15 pounds now instead of the old 13 pounds where we had trouble with milkers coming off. “The terry towels are the secret for mastitis control though. When the cow’s dry before the milker is put on, there’s no chance for dirt and manure to work its way down into the claw and up into the teat. And terry towels are cheaper, reusable, and better than paper towels. We keep enough towels on hand for each cow to supply two days of two-tunes-a-day milking,” Duncan professes. The DHIA rolling average of the New & Used Siios New & Used Extensions Tear down & Rebuilt Gunite silo relining & repairs Replastering, roofs, permanent pipe & distributors Oxygen Limiting Silos above and below ground manure storage Jamesway Unloaders Barn Equipment Write or Call DETWEILER SILOS Rd 2 Box 267-0 Newville, PA 17241 Phone: 717-532-3039 717-776-7533 717-776-3288 Penn State prof advises gypsy moth control the insects. “By that time such strategies are in vain and you’re wasting time and money,” advises Stanley G. Gesell, a Penn State professor of Entomology Extension. “When the caterpillars come down to lay gypsy moth eggs, the tree damage has been done. If you’re aiming to destroy the in sects by spraying when they’re on the ground, you’ll cause a worse nuisance an enormous stench of decaying caterpillars. “At that juncture you’d best leave them alone,” he advises. “They’ll disappear by July 1.” The only way to .prevent significant tree damage, and Duncan herd is 16,400 pounds milk with 642 pounds fat. And, like most Berks County farms, Duncan ships his milk as an mdependent to a local dairy. He explains Berks County-is not in the Federal Order and is regulated by the’ Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board. “We get 28 cents below the Federal Order for our milk,” he says, “but we come out above because of higher utilization. Clarifying his position as a Berks dairy farmer and as the president of the Keystone Milk Marketing Association, Duncan states, “I’m not saying the Federal Order isn’t necessary there are places where it’s needed. But it shouldn’t be forced on farmers who don’t need it, like here where our milk supplies a local market and our promotion dollars are spent.” Duncan also serves as president of the Berks Dairy Farmers Association and as chairman of his township’s planning com mission. He is a member of the county’s Pennsylvania Farmers’ Association, Bernville Grange, and Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee. “Politics is a necessary evil. As farmers, we have to watch out for ourselves. No one else is going to protect us, preserve our farmland or prices. Farmers are an en dangered species vitally important to our country,” Duncan con cludes. sometimes tree death, he con tinues, is to spray and only in mid-to-late May, after the eggs laid the previous summer have hatched and before the larvae have eaten too much. “Unless individuals and com munities to extensive spraying soon,’’ he emphasizes, “we can expect tremendous defoliation, an unpredictable amount of tree mortality and large numbers of unhappy people.” Short of spraying now, he adds, the only positive strategy is to drape large pieces of burlap around tree trunks, for ten days to two weeks beginning the last week in May. “During that period,” explains Gesell, “large numbers of the larvae come down from high tree branches m the morning to avoid the growing heat. While some of these caterpillars seek shelter m loose tree bark, many can be captured in the burlap, which they’ll also use to hide in before their afternoon pilgrimmage back up the tree. 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It doesn’t protect trees from the serious damage which, if sustained for two or three con secutive years, can kill the tree.” While gypsy moth larvae will eat the leaves of many types of forest, fruit and shade trees, they have their preferences, he continues. They favor oaks, but will munch on apple, birch, hazlenut, linden, beech, red cedar, hemlock, willow, pine and spruce. They don’t like ash, balsam, fir, blackberry, dogwood, grape, holly, mulberry, sycamore and walnut.' This spring, says Gesel, Penn sylvania is experiences its biggest, most devastating gypsy moth invasion. Areas which suffered significant infestation last year have had a far greater outbreak and probably will sustain still more tree damage. The long-established pattern is a two- or three-year massive out break followed by a collapse. Part of a northeastern U.S. phenomenon, he explains, the state’s gypsy moth problem generally has been moving nor theast to southwest along the mountain ridges. 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