Ray's Thought for the Day - Werkin' in the Sun, Noper
There's a fair sized bunch of clouds raining on these parts today. Therefore, werkin' in the sun is not an option. All righty then. This rain has come about just when the dragonflies and their food items had all but disappeared from the CB.
Two plus weeks of hot dry weather allowed the tent caterpillars which afflict the pecan trees to enjoy a population explosion. There they are messy tents of caterpillars plus caterpillar waste products, happily ensconced in their messy tents, chewing their way up limb, expanding their messy tents, up limb.
This rain shall slow them down. Apparently, they do not function efficiently under conditions of rain. That's good. Sometimes they eat too much. Plus, there are never enough predators to keep them from eating too much.
Er. The other issue with those pecans, most of which are a self-pruning cultivars here abouts, is that they are limb wimpy. The knuckleheads who engineered those cultivars thought, we shall produce a cultivar pecan that shall have great big heavy fat fruits. Then, instead of having to pick up all those fruits off the ground, the limbs shall break off from the weight of the fruit. That way the fruit shall be easier to pick.
Course the knuckleheads, being knuckleheads, did not improve on nature quite as they anticipated. So what happens is, the limbs do not break clean, but instead hang vertically, held at the break point by the most proximal to the ground, sapwood and bark. Hark! The fruit is still unripe. What should I do?, hope that the fruits shall mature in situ, or lop off the great limbs entirely? Mercy! Those limbs may be a Potential Safety Topic - Environmental Hazard!
Anyway, in this situation, those tent caterpillars might have eaten up enough of the leaves to alleviate the great weight that caused the limbs to break in the first place. Except that, all the caterpillar poop is constrained in the webs, plus the mass of the leaves is converted into caterpillars, also constrained inside the tent that is moving up limb. It is a lose, lose situation for the pecan pie lover.
Yet soon, all those in these parts, afflicted by the knucklehead cultivar pecans, shall have great piles of limbs situated for pick up and eventual composting. Ha! We'll get pie in the sky when we die.
Two plus weeks of hot dry weather allowed the tent caterpillars which afflict the pecan trees to enjoy a population explosion. There they are messy tents of caterpillars plus caterpillar waste products, happily ensconced in their messy tents, chewing their way up limb, expanding their messy tents, up limb.
This rain shall slow them down. Apparently, they do not function efficiently under conditions of rain. That's good. Sometimes they eat too much. Plus, there are never enough predators to keep them from eating too much.
Er. The other issue with those pecans, most of which are a self-pruning cultivars here abouts, is that they are limb wimpy. The knuckleheads who engineered those cultivars thought, we shall produce a cultivar pecan that shall have great big heavy fat fruits. Then, instead of having to pick up all those fruits off the ground, the limbs shall break off from the weight of the fruit. That way the fruit shall be easier to pick.
Course the knuckleheads, being knuckleheads, did not improve on nature quite as they anticipated. So what happens is, the limbs do not break clean, but instead hang vertically, held at the break point by the most proximal to the ground, sapwood and bark. Hark! The fruit is still unripe. What should I do?, hope that the fruits shall mature in situ, or lop off the great limbs entirely? Mercy! Those limbs may be a Potential Safety Topic - Environmental Hazard!
Anyway, in this situation, those tent caterpillars might have eaten up enough of the leaves to alleviate the great weight that caused the limbs to break in the first place. Except that, all the caterpillar poop is constrained in the webs, plus the mass of the leaves is converted into caterpillars, also constrained inside the tent that is moving up limb. It is a lose, lose situation for the pecan pie lover.
Yet soon, all those in these parts, afflicted by the knucklehead cultivar pecans, shall have great piles of limbs situated for pick up and eventual composting. Ha! We'll get pie in the sky when we die.
posted by ray pistrum at Thursday, August 16, 2007
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