One of my trees an Asian pear looked terrible this spring. There were bugs and aphids and little scale insects all over it. The new growth was shriveled and blackened.
I transferred a couple of ladybugs and ladybug larvae to it but they didn’t seem to be doing much good.
The Asian pear of a different variety right next to it looked great and not a juice sucker on it. There has to be a relationship to the plant’s resistance systems. In some cases the plant’s resistance must be induced by damage, or by insects sucking its juices. I would bet that some of these trees grew in a greenhouse. And were never exposed to sucking insects. I gritted my teeth and did nothing other than the addition of some more ladybug larvae.
Two months later the Pear is putting out fresh leaves and none of the new growth has any juice suckers on it. The tree looks 500% better. We should all learn to stop and observe. Permaculture should not be about instant gratification.
by voice recognition on bob’s droid. Sorry for the Weird capitalization. Website http://www.puravidaaquatic.com/