Hi Everyone,
Does anyone know why my nectarine is weeping sap from the fruit? I’ve tried google but most info is on the tree itself oozing sap. Otherwise I am seeing insect damage as the culprit but so far I have not been able to catch anyone in the act. We have had a ton of rain so I thought that might have a hand in it but with no experience with nectarines I’m just guessing.
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Larvae inside the fruit - likely either curculio or oriental fruit moth
And unless you watch all night you won’t see them. Lois is correct. The next stage for the worms is for the fruit to fall off, and they will enter the ground. The tree is on their radar now, so will be back every year.
You also need to pick up the fallen fruit or else the larva will burrow
into the ground and become an adult. The new adult will then attack your
trees again.
I would pick off every weeping fruit and destroy it, not wait for it to fall
Well crap. What is everyone’s preferred means of dealing with this pest?
Yeah sorry for the bad news. You have to spray in the future.
Those are curculio. Yes, remove all those fruits now. Cut open to verify there is a worm trail in them.
I had several peaches with the same thing. 
I need to work on a spray/prevention schedule that works for me. I have multiple varieties of fruit (pear, peach, nectarine, and apple) growing in my orchard so its a lot to stay ahead of even for the small size. I did alright with CAR this year, kept the deer at bay, and I’m expecting a plague of june bugs to begin soon so I’m ready for that but I wasn’t ready for the moths. I’m slowly learning though.
Curculio is an ugly little beetle
You actually can catch it in the act and the crunchy squish is satisfactory
Probably too late now
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Your options to control PC are Surround and Permethrin. Commercial products that can be used in a small sprayer are Imidan (must follow regulations/label instruction/safety guidelines). My first year spraying for them and I still had problems with PC. Not a complete loss for me but I suffered damage on 70 to 80% of my fruit.
I will get the #$@!^ next year … Maybe 
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Surround has worked for me pretty well, but monsoons this spring washed it off even with a sticker. Not a total loss, but p,us and peaches def took a hit.
“Plums” that is. Will try adding permethrine next year.
Surround is not supposed to be used with sticker. Sticker will not allow Surround to flake off which is a key to irritate bugs
Does Surround stand up to rain? I’ve never heard of it before now. Our springs have been very wet over the past two years so if the trend continues I would have to use something that can stand up to a good soaking.
It can take a little rain but needs to be applied after about an inch. I had little early damage this year since it was dry, but the late damage has been higher due to the regular rains. Another downside of Surround is you are not killing the bugs ever and they can hang on a long time. Overall I would say you need 4-6 sprays to get reasonable control with Surround, and lots of monitoring and practice before you are putting them in the right spot. On the plus side its not poison and is not harming any beneficials.
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