Hi Margaret (and everyone else),
Here's a link to the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture's Light Brown=
Apple Moth Project:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/lbam/lbam_main.html
In short, more moths have been found and the quarantine areas have grown (I=
'm now living in a quarantine zone and it wasn't one last spring, for insta=
nce). They haven't been doing a great job of informing the public--a lot of=
people I talk to have never heard of the LBAM. They're starting to apply p=
heromones to disrupt mating in some of the quarantine areas. There have bee=
n some protests in Monterey area over the proposed pheromone spraying progr=
am.
I think part of the problem is that there are a number of nearly identical =
small brown moths that are native to our area (or at least not considered a=
threat) and the only way to identify the true LBAM is by scraping off the =
scales and looking at the vein pattern on the wings. I'm not sure how many =
of us--even those of us who are concerned about the threat--are willing to =
scrape scales off a bunch of teeny moths.
By the way, Gamble Garden in Palo Alto is another recipient of the Urginea/=
Drimia bulbs, and they bloomed a week or two ago. Perhaps they bloom earlie=
r when they're in soil?
Cheryl Renshaw
Santa Clara, California
] On Behalf Of khe36747
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2007 5:45 PM
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: dangerous plants
As a sort of supliment to the various discussions about alergy inducing and=
toxic plants that has been happening I thought I would share a story of a =
friend who found blood on the rampant roses growing underneath his office w=
indow and who has extended the 'security barrier' they provide to the perim=
eter of the whole office building. An Australian native plant grower near u=
s has a variety of Grevillia asteriscosa which has leaves the size and shap=
e of razor wire. He thought he might market it to the parents of teenage gi=
rls under the name 'Convent Wall'. Grevillias have endless possibilities as=
flowering security barriers I find - although they would not be likely to =
be the sorts of grevillias sold in foreign plant shops.
Oh, PS. it is definately spring here so I assume it is approaching autumn i=
n California and I was wondering if there was any update on the Light Brown=
Apple Moth?? Has devestation ensued or is it a growing problem?
Margaret Healey
Near Ballarat
Victoria, Australia
> Oh, PS. it is definately spring here so I assume it is approaching autumn=
in
> California and I was wondering if there was any update on the Light Brown
> Apple Moth?? Has devestation ensued or is it a growing problem?
I live in one of the quarantine areas (the Monterey area), and Light
Brown Apple Moths were found here. They actually did give fair warning
to look out for them months ago. They also have recently sprayed the
synthetic pheromone, which of course caused protests in Monterey,
although I only saw one protester the next day when it was decided
that they would do the spraying, calling it "Phepomone" on his sign. A
lot of people were panicked that it would cause environmental damage
and harm people, although I hadn't heard any sort of study pointed out
that it would. They sprayed us two nights, and are supposed to do a
second application in a month. What I find most interesting is the
protesters were all a handful of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel
residents, and heard little to no protesting at the university or in
the towns of Seaside and Marina (the two towns to the north of
Monterey within the quarantine area.
Barry
