I just noticed to day that the several branch tips are turning brown on all of my peach and nectarine trees. The trees were planted this spring and up until now had no problems and put out several feet of growth. I cut a few of these tips off and could find no signs of insect tunneling or larva. Any Ideas?
Yes, thats is exactly what it is. Happens to all of my peach tree this time of year, because I stop spraying the end of July.
Thanks for the replies!
What’s the recommended course of action at this point, spray? Cut out the damaged tips?
I have Imidan and Carbaryl on hand. Thanks again
Where are you located? If you are in the east, it is most likely OFM.
Since the tree Has no fruit, I’d just trim the shoot off. If you are lucky, you may find a larva inside. I usually cut off to where no more hole/tunnel is in that shoot.
OFM has a few generations in a growing season. I see damage into Sept in my area.
I’m in eastern PA, zone 6a
OFM. Get ready next year for them and other peach pests such as plum curculios and stinkbugs, to name a few.
I think you use an organic approach, right? When I did it organic way, I sprayed peach trees with Spinosad and Surround. I bagged my peaches after 2-3 rounds of sprays. I only protected the fruit.
We have two generations of OFM here so I let them damage shoot tips when the second generation showed up. I trimmed those damage tips off.
Do the OFM larvae travel to the fruit through the bags of you let them infest the tips or is just bagging sufficient? I kept spraying my tree with spinosad after plum curculio sprays to deal with moths.
Andrew,
I don’t think so. Usually, I find OFM larvae in the shoot tips after a few days of seeing flagging shoots. I think they feed inside the tips.
OFM (or PC) in bags happen when bagging was done after the moths (or any bugs) already laid eggs on the fruit. It is hard to examine every peach fully before bagging. Some puncture wounds are difficult to see.
Spinosad is not effective against plum curculio, a weevil. That’s why I used it with Surround (as irritant). Spinosad is effective against moths, including Oriental Fruit Moth.
Pest pressure often increases after you have more years of fruiting. New growers often think they could get fruit with little to no spray. That usually does not last long if you live in high pest pressure areas.
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