Walked the apple orchard yesterday and found that the coddling moth larvae have been having quite a time in my apple trees. I hadn’t thinned them at all so it wasn’t a complete disaster but having not dealt with these to this extent in my young orchard was quite an eye opener. Unfortunately they hit my Honeycrisp the hardest in terms of % of fruit destroyed. I probably picked about 500+ apples off from 48 trees. I will have to come up with a specific spray program for them as they can have several generations in one summer.
Looking for advice on how to proceed. I’m thinking that a wing trap to track mating and then spray Surround? I have Carbryl but I have hesitated to use it so far since it kills beneficials as well and it wouldn’t even affect those that have already entered the apple.
My experience here in W. Montana is that spinosad can do the job if the timing is perfect- I’ve been lucky following the local extension office’s recommendations. We get three or four generations/year.
I’ve also found that Triazicide Once & Done works very well, but I don’t consider it reliable because of reports here and the label changes. Evidently it has to be fresh and cannot have been allowed to get too warm. Or maybe it’s just not a good product any more.
I don’t use Surround but my understanding is that it requires numerous applications, and of course it needs to be on before the bugs are active.
I am in my first year needing spray with 2 bearing apple trees (+8 yet to bare), 2 plums, and a peach. I use Scott’s low impact spray advice. Search “low impact spray schedule”, and have been trapping for codling moth to get a “biofix” to know when to apply spinosad.
Your 48 trees sounds like a commercial-scale endeavor. Are you selling fruit? If so you could probably use Imidan (phosmet). As discussed in several other threads here, if you are selling fruit your options are much wider than if you are a backyard grower like me.
If you are looking for something that is a reduced risk pesticide like spinosad, then spinetoram might be a good choice (product name: Delegate WG by Dow). It is a slightly chemically modified spinosyn that was specifically designed to be more resistant to UV degradation so it has a longer residual on the tree. I personally have been itching to get some, however the smallest quantity sold is the 26 ounce ~$300 package.
on Mark’s comment about spinosad with good timing. I don’t always have the greatest timing, but even with my hit and miss I get reasonably clear fruit. Along with spinosad there is codling moth granulosis which is now available in small homeowner packages. I use both together when I remember to (this spring I forgot to thaw the granulosis, but I now have some and will put it in the next spray (generation 2 coming here). Surround is a help but not nearly as useful as spinosad/granulosis.
@marknmt, when is your 2nd generation? I probably should put out a trap to get a better fix on mine, its coming up soon.
Hi Scott. I have a trap and sprayed for first generation about a week ago. It’s been pretty cool and things have slowed down some, so I don’t expect the second generation for about another week, but I may sneak in a “safety spray” sooner, given spinosad’s low residual effect.
We’re in an altogether different climate than Washington, which is on the other side of the mountains and quite a bit lower than we. But our local country extension agent does do a good job (for my circumstances at least) on the timing.
Where do you get the granulosis? I googled it and found quite a bit of information but at $50.00 for an ounce and a half I may not bite!
Mark, according to all the charts like the one above there is more than a month between flight peaks, in fact its more like two months peak to peak. The first generation is often quite spread out so you may be seeing that.
I bought whats basically a lifetime supply from Great Lakes IPM, for $80 if I recall (Virosoft brand). Those small Cyd-X containers are expensive, I forgot how expensive they are. Basically its $5 per backpack load on the small bottles. The commercial size Cyd-X costs 1/4th the price per ounce.
on Mark’s comment about spinosad with good timing. I don’t always have the greatest timing, but even with my hit and miss I get reasonably clear fruit. Along with spinosad there is codling moth granulosis which is now available in small homeowner packages. I use both together when I remember to (this spring I forgot to thaw the granulosis, but I now have some and will put it in the next spray (generation 2 coming here). Surround is a help but not nearly as useful as spinosad/granulosis.