Stargazer Lillies

Last year about this time, I was telling a friend of mine how well my Honeycrisp apple tree was doing and that I had lots of nice looking apples on it. I told him I was using some permaculture concepts to keep things moist in this semi-arid region of the world where I live. And also that I was trying to be as close to organic as I possibly can.

Apple Blossoms

He replied, "You know you need to spray those trees three times each season, don't you? Once before the trees blossom, again after the fruit sets and a third time right before harvest."

Apple Blossom Sets

I said, "Really? I wasn't planning on doing that."

He said, "If you want to eat apples in September you will."

Immature Honeycrisp Apple

So I called my gardening mentor and asked him whether he sprays his apple trees.

"Never with anything that kills bugs," was his reply.

What I've learned in my short-spanned gardening hobby is that there are lots and lots of beneficial insects beyond my honeybees. The concept and rationale for using insecticide focuses on just one or two insects that harm the crops, but the beneficial insects are not usually considered. They just get caught in the crossfire and get killed because of the one or two bad ones.

So, I decided against spraying and boy am I glad I did.

Close to Harvest Time

Late in the summer I found something that initially was very disturbing. But after doing some research and examining the results, I was quite happy. You see, as the summer progressed, I noticed that there were more and more wasps hanging around my apples. They were congregating around the apple stem and their heads were facing in. I thought they were eating my apples. But I decided to leave things alone.

Just Harvested

At harvest time, I got about two dozen, legitimate-sized Honeycrisp apples off my little Charlie Brown tree. Only one of the apples went bad and got eaten up by something. Looking inside where the stems went into the apple, there was no damage that I could see.

So what were those wasps doing?

Well, I know that wasps are attracted to meat so I figured they were carnivorous, perhaps omnivorous. Upon further research, wasps eat hemolymph from larvae (among other things). I don't have any verifiable evidence, I try not to mix things up with wasps! But I'm guessing that those wasps were eating the larvae from some eggs that another bug laid in there that would have eaten my apples.

You know, this is just one example of how amazing the system was originally designed. I see this with my bees and in many other areas if I just keep my eyes open. Don't interfere and things will happen they way they were originally intended. The arrogance we have that nature wasn't designed properly was on full display last season.

So, no spraying of my trees and awesome tasting ORGANIC apples!

How about you gardeners? Have you seen anything similar?