Based on @coolmantoole’s videos I knew it was a matter of time until PC found me. Just did an orchard check and found a few plums with small worms in them. Can someone confirm that this is PC? So much for a no spray orchard. Will be using @scottfsmith’s minimal spray program next year.
Malathion is what I know works. God bless.
Marcus
Is this definitely PC? Or am I dealing with something else?
Do you spray when you first see fruitlets forming? I am a beekeeper and won’t spray when flowers are in bloom. Hoping to find a solution that I can use once the fruitlets pop but before this pests gets to the fruit.
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PC is a grub, it has a brown head capsule. Poke your worm and see if it does
Yes and every three weeks after that!
Bees are the reason I use Malathion which is a contact insecticide and not the systemic stuff. I hit the trees for the first time just as the sheaths with the dried flower parts are slipping off the little ovaries. I hit late in the afternoon after the wind has died down and when honeybees, especially, are less active. I try to do it when wend is moving in the opposite direction from my blueberries but that’s hard to arrange. I say this because this is a time when they are in full bloom and are attracting carpenter bees, bumble bees and other solitary bees that stay active until dark. I spray every other week until the plums are quarter sized. But I inspect the trees every day and if I see one curculio bight I will spray that part of the tree right at the morning inspection and then come back that evening or as soon as I can and spray all the plum trees with small fruit. God bless.
Marcus
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Pick a live worm out and put it in a piece of paper. It is try to crawl away, it is likely an oriental fruit moth. If it wiggles, can’t walk away, it could be PC esp. if you see a crescent bite marks on the fruit.
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I have all kinds of worms going after my fruit. If you are (un) lucky, you could have different kinds of worms in the same fruit.
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Thats a very good question … I definitely have a much-reduced population of PC this year, maybe 1/2 or 1/3 of the normal (at least so far). But, along with the nematodes last year I also did a much better job of picking up drops. So its not clear which of the two helped. My guess is the nematodes did help some. One advantage of nematodes is the PC worm can’t fly so they are all pupating right below the trees. This makes it a relatively small area you can saturate with nematodes. Since the PC almost always does not survive in apples I only need to put it under my stone fruits.
The Cornell studies if I recall showed a reduction of around half. Its not going to allow you to stop spraying but it can take the edge off.
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My animals scoop up anything that drops off the trees but it doesn’t seem to help. PC is obviously flying in from somewhere else and targeting me specifically. They hit me hard this year and as usual in Illinois, rainy weather keeps me from spraying.
Some days I feel like using the nuclear spray program.
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