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The Bayou Vista Knights of Columbus held its council round of competition for the organization's free-throw championship recently at Berwick Junior High School. The next round, which is district, will be held this week and includes all of St. Mary Parish.

If you have citrus trees in your yard, you probably already know that the first week of February is when you should really start paying attention to them.
For the past few weekends, my wife and I have been harvesting the last of our fruit crop, which happened to be one of those bumper years. I’m not sure if the bonanza we had was due to the extremely cold 2018 winter combined with an above average year of rainfall all the way up through fall, but whatever the reason, we couldn’t have been more blessed with our produce.
Now that the fruit is off the trees, this weekend I’ll go about the business of attending to them in preparation for this year’s yield. One of the first things I’ll do is fertilize them with a good dose of 8-8-8 or 13-13-13.
How much? Well, that depends. The old-school rule of thumb I used for years when the trees were young was for every foot of height I’d apply one pound of fertilizer. I make sure to distribute the material all around the tree evenly from the trunk to the outer most circumference of its branches.
Overall, it’s a pretty good rule of thumb. But, if you visit the LSU/AG Center’s Louisiana Home Citrus Production website, there’s a detailed chart and graphic that is an excellent resource when it comes to fertilizing your trees.
In our hobby orchard, we have a couple of satsuma trees, a blood orange tree, a grapefruit tree, a lemon and kumquat tree. What else we have is a problem with whiteflies.
The Farmer’s Almanac identifies these pests as aleyrodidae, which is a soft-bodied, winged insect, closely related to aphids and mealybugs. Whatever they are related to, they are a disgusting parasitic creature that sucks the juices from the leaves on your trees. What the flies leave behind is an excrement known as honeydew, which when left unattended becomes fungal disease.
If you’ve ever seen the black sooty film that almost completely covers the vibrant green leaves of a citrus tree, then you’ve seen the disease. It literally takes over the tree.
The fact is it’s nearly impossible to get rid of whiteflies. You’re in a constant state of prevention by treating over and over throughout the year.
The black fungus interferes with the physiological activities (photosynthesis) of the tree, where the tree becomes weak and will produce a small crop of tasteless, unappetizing fruit.
Some large commercial growers will often use biological controls to combat whiteflies. These may include the introduction of parasitoid wasps or ladybird beetles, which feed on whiteflies and their eggs. These types of controls may be good for the fruit farmer but are less practical for backyard hobbyist.
During an online search for getting rid of whiteflies, one site suggested using a vacuum cleaner to suck the insects off the leaves. Another said to hose down the trees often with water to control them. However, most people fight whitefly infestations with chemicals.
Typically, what I have used is Hi Yield 55 percent malathion insecticide spray, but there are other brands and chemicals on the market just as effective. For fungus, I’ve used Daconil Fungicide spray.
The problem with chemical treatment is with the application. Many people make the mistake of mixing a batch of chemicals thinking “more is better.” Chemicals are harsh and not only will they kill the target species of insects, they also kill many of the good ones that actually prey on whiteflies.
Additionally, some make the mistake of spraying when the citrus tree flowers are in bloom and subsequently kill the honeybees that are pollinating their fruit trees.
An organic spray can be made by mixing 1.5 tablespoons of liquid dishwashing soap, such as Dawn or Palmolive, with lemon, with 1 cup of vegetable oil. You can substitute Dr. Bonner’s liquid soap or Murphy Oil Soap. After mixing the two agents, shake them well. The dosage is 1.5 tablespoons of mix to 8 ounces of water.
Since I’m typically spraying by volume, if my math serves me correctly, I would use 5 quarts of mix in my 14-gallon commercial sprayer. Essentially, the mixture leaves a film on the leaves that kills whiteflies and smothers the larvae and eggs.
What’s key is whether you apply insecticide chemical spray or more gentle biodegradable homemade horticulture oils, they need to be applied on top “and” bottom of the leaves.
For coastal zone residents with citrus trees in their yards, the first couple of weeks of February are crucial for a healthy crop. If they do the work now, come fall the payoff could be a bonanza.
EDITOR’S NOTE: John Flores is The Daily Review’s Outdoor Writer. If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story to share, you can contact Flores at 985-395-5586 or at gowiththeflo@cox.net

The Patterson High School bleachers were a sea of red Wednesday, but it wasn’t Lumberjack red and black. Rather, it was Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns’ red and white.
Standout defensive back Jaymioun Butler’s family, friends and teammates were decked out in Ragin’ Cajuns’ apparel to celebrate his signing to play college football for the Cajuns as a preferred walk-on.
Butler, however, wasn’t comfortable with all the attention, saying several times that he was ready to get the signing ceremony done.
“That’s Jaymioun,” Patterson Head Coach Don Jones said. “He’s a quiet, humble kid, but he’s a terror on the football field. He played downhill for us all season, and he was one the leaders of this program. I’m happy I got to coach the kid because he’s not just a strong ball player, but he’s a great kid.”
But offers weren’t coming in after Butler’s senior season like he hoped. He received an offer from Louisiana College and was in contact with Tulane, Southeastern and a couple other schools.
So, Butler decided to attend several skills camps, hoping to catch coaches’ eyes.
“I went to a bunch of camps, and I did pretty good,” Butler said. “I covered good, and I ran good and ULL’s coaches came up to me and told me that they liked me and that they would be in touch.”
Butler played out of position last season at safety after teammates in the secondary had trouble getting lined up.
“I’m not big enough to play safety in college, and I don’t see myself getting too much bigger,” he said.
Jones calls Butler a quiet leader.
“He never said a word about having to play out of position in his senior season,” Jones said. “He got everybody lined up and ready for the next play. ULL is getting a good football player, and it never hurts to get good character kids in your program.”
Butler was a second-team All-District 8-3 A defensive back selection as a senior.
Louisiana signed 25 total players in this recruiting cycle, including seven Wednesday.
The Ragin Cajuns will be bringing in more players, too.
Additional reporting by theadvocate.com/sports.

After a rough end to the first quarter, Central Catholic came back and made it a game against Metairie Park Country Day during a nondistrict contest in Morgan City Tuesday night.
However, the home standing Eagles fell 54-51 in a game in which it was plagued by free-throw shooting.
The Eagles (18-8) finished 14-of-21 from the line in the narrow loss.
However, Central Catholic, ranked No. 2 in the latest Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Division IV power rankings, had a chance up until the final horn against Division III’s second-ranked squad.
With 1.4 seconds remaining, the Eagles had the ball under their own basket for an inbounds play after it was knocked out of play by Country Day.
However, the Eagles’ Taylor Blanchard’s inbounds pass towards an Eagle behind the three-point line was stolen by Country Day’s Xane Hunter, who then ran out the clock to preserve the win.
While the game was competitive for much of the first quarter, Country Day, a Louisiana basketball powerhouse, went on an 8-0 run within the last three minutes of the first quarter for a 22-12 lead to end the quarter and looked on the verge of breaking the game open.
However, Central Catholic responded with a 17-6 scoring advantage in the second period and trailed 29-28 at halftime.
In that second quarter, the Eagles took their first lead since the first quarter on Davidyione Bias’ layup with less than 40 seconds remaining for a 28-27 advantage, but Country Day (20-8) responded on its final possession. Hunter grabbed an offensive rebound after his own miss and converted the bucket just before the buzzer for a 29-28 Cajuns advantage at the break.
In the third quarter, Central Catholic scored the period’s first six points for a 34-29 advantage after a Central Catholic layup with 5:31 remaining.
Country Day came back and tied the game at 34 on Kaleb Jenkins’ bucket with 3:50 left in the third period.
From there, the largest lead either team had the remainder of the game was a five-point advantage by Country Day at 51-46 after Nicky Corchiani sank the first of two free-throw attempts with 1:11 remaining.
Central Catholic cut its deficit to as little as 53-51 with 12.6 seconds remaining when Thomas sank two free throw to cut Central Catholic’s deficit to 53-51, but Justin Ibieta countered as he made one of two free throws for a 54-51 advantage.
Central Catholic’s Tyler Smith’s game-tying three-point attempt was off the mark, but the ball was knocked out of bounds by Country Day with 1.4 seconds left setting up the game’s finish.
Thomas led three Eagles in double figures with 12 points. Other Central Catholic scorers were Blanchard, 11; Bias, 10; D.J. Lewis, eight; Elijah Swan, six; and Smith, four.
Ibieta led Country Day with 18 points, while Kaleb Jenkins also reached double figures with 13.
Central Catholic will return to action Thursday when it travels to face Hanson Memorial in District 7-1A action.