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Old 10-14-2013, 09:03 PM   #7 (permalink)
Kostas
 
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Location: Glyfada,Greece
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Name: Konstantinos
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Default Re: The real 'Ice Cream'!

Eradication is only a fantasy on large scale,not on small scale. One does can get a remote located field rid from them with nematodes but as they say,economic reasons make that not easily applicable to banana growers. I am not a grower for income and can and have and do from time to time treat all my banana mats with nematodes preventively,in case any borer has come my way. About 2 years ago,i had problems with a borer tunneling into banana pseudostems in Melissia and causing rot but after a couple nematode treatments of all my bananas,i never saw damage again. Note that i had never imported bananas from tropical areas back then. This time i did,i took all possible measures to eradicate all known banana pests that could come along with the pups. I have studied borers at our Forest Research Institute and did a study on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus which plagues palms here in Greece. Steinernema carpocapsae was found to be the most effective treatment for this borer and other borers tested(spruce borers),with 98% killing efficiency in palms compared to at most 70% for chemicals. So i trust my nematodes better than any chemical for taking care of borers. I have a palm garden with rare species which i spray monthly with nematodes so these nematodes are always abundant in my garden and soils. No banana borer could survive in my garden and bananas are not grown anywhere in the general area my garden is. In this environment,eradication is easy.
In addition to that,i have quarantined the pups and found nothing showing the presence of nematodes. If there were any,i would have known by now as i have various potted bananas in the area i placed the Ice Cream after it cleared quarantine with 2 treatments of Steinernema carpocapsae. All bananas and palms around got treated as well. Any surviving borer couldnt help it but get infected in this environment. Also,as literature mentions,flying is extremely rare and with so many bananas around it and none in the general area,it would have nowhere to go...

I am sure you know your weevils,we are just in completely different environments and circumstances
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