This year I decided to do some spraying for codling moth on my apples trees (backyard grower in Pacific Northwest with just a few trees in my yard). I have been using Permethrin and have done a couple sprays this season. So far, all my apples look to be completely clear of codling moth damage. I know that there can be be a few generations and what I’m wondering is if anyone knows when I should be doing the next round of spraying to target the new eggs that will be hatching. I’ve been doing some research but everything seems to be in degree days and what I’m hoping for is just a general guideline of when to spray (i.e beginning of June, mid July etc.) just to make sure I keep on track.
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If you have nearby neighbors with apple or pear trees, the spraying may never end. I had to bag my apples when I was living in W Washington. There were too many nearby host trees to control without constant religious spraying. A coddling moth trap is a good indicator of when to spray.
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I completely agree with nil. You may need to spray for a long time and yet you dont want to spray needlessly. Using monitoring traps is the way to go.
Spray to coat the fruit with Surround WP when fruit are size of quarter. I started 2 weeks ago. Repeat as fruit grows and after each rainfall. Also plug in a bug zapper which is death on codling moths and mosquitoes
Have used these two for over 10 years, takes care of the apple fly maggot and codling moth
Dennis
Kent Wa
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Commercial apple farmer here, we spray around June 1, two weeks later and two weeks after that. We don’t spray for second generation, since we have stuff that starts ripening then. We’ve had essentially 0 codling moth for the last three seasons.
I would suggest using Spinosad in rotation to cut down on flare up problems caused by pyrethroids. You don’t have to worry much about resistance at your scale, I just try to use broad spectrum stuff as little as possible. We use diamides quite a bit and as far as efficacy and safety and low beneficial impact they’re up there with spinosyns for codling moth. Unfortunately they’re a bit spendy after they changed the packaging for Altacor. Voliam flexi works well and is inexpensive, but it has a neonic mixed in with the diamide. Codling moth virus is very widely used in Washington as well, but it only lasts about a week. Compared to two weeks of most others.
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What area of the Washington do you live in? I feel like I’ve gotten them almost year round in Yelm
I’m in Oregon, we still get occasional late ones, but as long as we keep the damage near 0 for the first generation, that’s usually enough.
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What kind of zapper do you use?
Thanks
Hi,
Home Depot has it for $50.
Flowtron Electronic Insect Killer BK15D
Lowe’s has one as well as amazon
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Thanks, DennisD. That looks like the least expensive Flowtron model, but it seems like overkill for my 2 apple and 1 pear trees, no more than 30 ft apart from each other. I could find no documentation about the power source; with a 15 Watt light bulb, I assume that it must need 120 V AC power. Is that correct?
Yes, the light attracts then and the electric grid fry’s them as they come into the cage
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Bug zappers are bad for codling moths, but they are bad for silk moths as well.
Today at Menards I stumbled onto some solar bug zappers that cost $6.22 after the 11% rebate. There isn’t much info on flyer, except that they go on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. I figure at that price it is worth the gamble against codling moths and apple maggot flies. I try to bag most apples, but always miss some, and there are getting to be so many that now I have to try to rope friends into helping bag. That reminds me of the “Chicken Little” story.
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You might check to voltage to see if it’s high enough to zap a bug, probably need at least 24 volts, mine plugs in to house current so it zaps everything very well.