Last year was the first year that I had a peach crop that I really watched and had extensive PC damage. This year I have been watching much closer and was ready.
I intentionally did not spray all of my peach trees this year with Imidan before PC hit. I wanted to see when PC hit (it was today/last night) and better understand the enemy. Looking at my trees it looks like PC only hit the larger peaches (maybe nickel size?), the smaller peaches were not bothered. Is that because the peach needs to be nickel size or larger for the PC to enter or had the PC just not gotten to the smaller peaches?
For the most part the trees I sprayed with Imidan were not damaged by PC, with one or two peaches being the exception. Imidan is supposed to be curative, does anyone know how curative it is on peaches if sprayed within one to two days of larva infection (percent of loss)?
Also some of the larva entry points look like a scar with some being a round tunnel (no scar). Do i have two different insects attacking my peaches at the same time or does sometimes PC not leave a scar?
I also saw my first PC today. I am using Surround so I had put down protection a week or so ago.
The PC prefers dime to nickel sized fruits but also likes prune plum necks on quarter or bigger size. Things smaller than dime usually don’t get bites but I have seen exceptions. This is on stone fruits; on apples they will bite much smaller fruitlets in the pea size range.
The round holes are probably PC feeding injuries. The adults are feeding off the fruits. Those don’t have an egg so can be left on if needed.
I don’t know about Imidan details since I’m not using it. For Surround I really have to get with the program now, nearly everything is at once getting to the PC’s favorite stage. Its going to rain this afternoon and then I am going to be spraying a great deal of Surround.
My experience is that they hit shortly after the bloom falls off and then a really big hit when the Carolina cherries shed their flower parts. My going theory is that the big hit happens when whatever their primary host in the region hits that sheath drop stage. Happily I was able to keep PC off my plums this year with regular hits of malathion. God bless.
I have lots of trouble with pc in my peaches. This year due to some extremely cold temperatures this winter none of my mature peach trees bloomed. The only fruit trees I will have producing this summer will be some Asian pears. Will the lack of fruit this year cut back on the pc population next year? What do they feed on and reproduce in when there are no readily available stone fruits
I had that experience last year, and it seems to have done the trick. My guess though is that it makes a big difference if the late freeze was late enough to get all the flowers of the late blooming wild Prunus species as well.
I doubt it. We had no stone fruit in 2015 and little in 2016 due to freeze both years. Backk to normal production last year. Guess what ? All those buggers came back in full force.
Noooooo! Oh well , I did put stockings on some peaches last year and pulled a few perfect fruit off the tree. It is hard to describe how it feels to hold a perfectly ripe peach in your hand from your own tree with not a blemish on it but everyone here gets it.
Just take small bites and start on the opposite side as the pc sting. The grub goes to the pit so bite shallow, lol. Honestly I would rather eat around a pc grub as try to spray and wash my fruit
Do Apricots get hit by PC? It looks like I have some Jerseycots for the first time. I won’t be spraying my plums for a week or two but my Apricots are starting to size up (almost 1/4" today).
What is the best means of handling PC after strikes? I didn’t think it would be a problem here, but lo and behold there are little holes on my apples.
Yes, they are useful as thats usually the first place to spot 'em. This year it was on my Spring Satin which is nearly as early as the apricots. Some years the apricots are a bit early for the PC, this year for example many of my cots look like they will escape major damage. Other years they get massive damage.
I don’t want to take over the thread, but I didn’t want to start a whole new one for this either – does anyone have recommendations what to do for PC on cherries? I didn’t realize they liked them (first year getting any real cherry harvest) and was surprised and unhappy to see some scars today. Anyone ever sprayed surround and been able to wash it off come harvest time?
I use Surround on my cherries. Its pretty much gone by harvest. For several years I was not using it, but then I noticed the curc would attack the cherries if everything else had Surround on it. So, now I spray the cherries as well. I also use spinosad as the cherry fruit fly and OFM also can attack cherries. Spinosad is not effective for PC.
I am in a major Surround spray period now since everything is nearly synchronized this year: apricots, peaches, Jap. and Euro. plums, cherries, pears. Half the apples have dropped petals so I am hitting those as well now. I did three hours of Surround spraying today and didn’t quite finish, I’ll get the rest in the next day or two.
