has anyone come across commercial application of this fungus? I want to have a go of inoculating my orchard with it. seems like a jolly good alternative to chemical controls that are, at best, dubious. I've got kiwifruit and Avos and a few trillion cicadas,
thanks
Ivan
Never heard of it... but I can fully understand your desire to use it if you have an orchard full of cicadas. I used to think they were nice until I discovered the damage they do to fruit trees, roses, blueberry bushes, shrubs and trees.
The only alternatives I came across for controlling them organically is to net the entire fruit tree with a 1/4 inch (6mm) mesh netting. A bit expensive for over 200 orchard trees!
Or to fill the cicada ovipositor cuts with Neem to deal with the hatchlings before they get to the ground where they suck on the roots for the next how many years..!! It takes 6 weeks for the eggs to hatch.
The info I found stated that 60 eggs were placed in each cut... I'd hate to calculate how many eggs are laid in the markings ====== or >>>>>>>>>
One of the blessings of getting into your seventies is that you can no longer be driven distracted by the droning of cicadas. Mind you, there's something rather like a wee one singing 24/7 in my left ear!
