Its that time of the year. When or what stage do you start spraying. 95% of buds have fallen but fruitlet expansion has yet to take off for me.
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Today! I saw damage on my peaches 2 weeks ago in SE VA before shucks fell off.
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I think now is a good time to start spraying for you.
Cornell has modeling software (NEWA) which is free to use for plum curculio and other insects. You could take a look at and see if it would be helpful to you. I have been using it. One advantage is you can specify a local weather station like a nearby airport and it will give you results based on the local station.
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What are you planning to spray to combat PC?
Yes, especially with the warmer weather coming this week. One year I got lucky with delayed spraying, but only because the nights were quite cool at that time. There is some magic temperature where they suddenly start terrorizing your garden.
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Been wondering the same thing. Plums are in the middle of shuck split. I don’t think peaches are there yet. All fruitlets are very small. It seems too early to spray here (Ohio) but we will have a string of warm nights.
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I typically spray for Curculio when peaches are in shuck split/fall. I think when night temperature is in the sixties, PC becomes active. They start by biting the fruitlets, and then move to egg laying. If you scout your orchard, you may see bite marks, and may even see a curculio or two.
Pyrethroids are the only insecticides I use.
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I sprayed 9 days ago (6b in ridge and valley Va). I was trying to wait because apples were still in full bloom but started seeing many bites on pears. A few peaches and 2 freaky pear trees were also still in bloom. majority of peaches were 80% petal fall or more.
I avoided the blooming trees as best I could. But because of different bloom times it was a difficult choice. Now, Glad I sprayed because peaches and pears are looking good and apples seem to have set fruit too.
I’m trying @alan ’s plan with combo of assail and avaunt. I tried to pick things that were better for bees. I plan to spray again tomorrow now that all the trees are post bloom (10 days after first spray)
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Here, that hasn’t been a problem, even with earlier fruiting species like cherries and apricots. Things may change with climate, but PC has stuck to a schedule of arriving the first warm spell after apples lose their petals for about 15 years in a row for me at the many orchards I manage. I’m keeping my eyes open because right after peach blossoms opened we got a long siege of cool wet weather holding back the apples from blooming.
Further south you may even get another generation of PC, extending the need for protection. Coddling moth is also a potential summer threat, along with stink bugs which do a number on Asian pears here most years if I don’t add to my sprays.
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Hard to spray here now, with the constant rain.
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If you scrape away the PC scar and underneath 2-4mm, does it remove the egg? I know after hatching the grub would tunnel but perhaps if the egg was freshly laid you have a chance to scrap the egg out and save the fruit? Best I can tell there’s visible no ovipositor organ on the PC so it makes me think the egg is laid fairly shallow, hence scraping the egg off with a fingernail might remove the egg(s).
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Unfortunately for me, right when the apples started and the peaches and pears were finishing, we got a few warm (wonderful for being outside!) nights. After googling images I decided that the damage I saw on some fruits was PC and sprayed.
Also, I think I might have waited too long between sprays. I am seeing many damaged fruits on the pear trees. I do think it is from something that is not PC… Peaches still appear okay.
My understanding is that here in VA we should spray for PC at petal fall then 1st and 2nd cover. The chart implies one generation. I was going to try and get away with just two sprays and see how it went but I’m thinking now my pest pressure is just too high.
The home grower’s spray recommendations say 1st cover should be 10 days after petal fall and 2nd cover 14 days later. The commercial recommendations are same for pear and peach but says “Do not exceed more than 7 days between petal fall and first cover” for apples.
We definitely have these and I will be adding to my sprays (over the two in your guide). I don’t know how often yet- The guides I listed above say every two weeks. For apples and pears if I did that I would likely exceed the per acre limit for what I’m using and have to switch it up. It also seems like A LOT, but maybe I will have to do that.
I can only speak for my region, but my experience is extensive and up to 14 days between sprays works fine here. One thing though, I use Tactic as my spreader sticker which uses latex for sticking. Research I’ve seen suggests it extends protection better than anything else. I do not reapply even after heavy rains and neither to the contractors who work with my schedule, but we are spraying with airblaxt sprayers that penetrate the trees and cover everything. It is hard to do that with the types of sprayers homeowners use.
Tactic is a Loveland product carried by Nutrien Ag Solutions which have branches all over the country and will deliver through UPS.
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I might be worried over nothing. Some of the damage is definitely new, but there is also quite a bit that could be fallout from early damage.
It would be a good idea for me to use one.
Yes, I do have to work to get good coverage and can definitely miss stuff.
Thanks for all your help (not just on this, but for the last year). I have gone from really knowing nothing to feeling like I’m getting somewhere. I still have to figure out a lot (about spraying, about specific pests, about grafting, about pruning, about everything really…) and a lot more to learn - but I don’t feel nearly so lost anymore.
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Thank you for appreciating my advice. Many feel entitled to free advice these days- fallout from the internet where so much is free- but the owners are selling your info. .
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It’s probably been mentioned somewhere here but I will post it again - a useful PC calculator. It has many weather stations all over the US to chose from. Just checked mine. It says Apples should be blooming which is correct. PC are moving into the orchard but not time to spray since fruit has not started growth and don’t want to spray when bees are active.
https://newa.cornell.edu/plum-curculio
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I started yesterday. While tilling the garden, one literally flew into my neck and landed. I was already planning to spray, but that confirmed it. They’ve probably been active since last week. Sprayed Pyganic as a knock down since it was going to rain. Will start spraying surround, BT, BA, and spinosad this evening. Does anyone know if I can mix Bonide DF sulfur in with the Pyganic/Pyrethrin spray. Can’t find anything on that and not sure since pyrethrum comes from the oil of chrysanthemums.
Feels like it’s gonna be a bad year for bugs. These tiny shiny black beetles and June bugs have already been hammering the trees early during bloom.
Rain is usually preceeded and followed by warm and humid conditions that pc and brown rot love. Id rather have my spray be there the day before and day after a rain event than the 7 to 10 days of clear weather between fronts. Its a little different when things heat up and the main pest is stink bugs.
@ukie Well, I sprayed my stone fruit yesterday. Probably should have sprayed my apples also, but I didn’t think they were far enough along. I’m in Youngstown, not too far from Western Pa.
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