Thanks!
Youre in central MA, I’m in central NJ. Your fruits are pretty ripe. I picked mine I guess about a week before that. And about a month ago. Sounds about right. Size and looks seem like my shiro. I still have some in my fridge. I’ll try to get a photo
When I had Shiro, the birds always got them
My Shiro have been in long bread bag sleeves. Birds also do not bother my yellow plums. Anything red is another story,
@GardenHope - most of my Shiro are not fully ripe. I only picked a dozen that were darker yellow. Most are pale yellow with some green tint to them
I distribute Kootenay Covers in the United States. You can get an idea of what the covers are and how they work at our website: FruitTreeCovers.com. The covers are very effective against codling moth, OFM and cherry fruit flies. I would like to test them against Plum Curculio this year. I do not have PC in my state as far as I can determine. If you would like to try these covers against PC this year, please contact me by email at support@fruittreecovers.com or contact me through my website. I would appreciate your help.
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If I invented a tool that would let 2 people install one of these covers easily. Could you sell it for me?
edit:
PC walk up the trunk and unless the bag closing is very secure they will be able to get though if there determined enough. Prehaps you could create a ring you can install around the trunk to make securing the bag and providing a tight seal.
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I asked this question in the other PC Questions and tips thread but didn’t get a response.
Since they do crawl up the trunk, is it useful to employ Tanglefoot on a wrapped area of trunk?
From what I understand is they do have wings but they don’t fly to fruit they walk.
According to some studies they mostly walk below 70 degrees and mostly fly at higher temperature.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226487467_Movement_of_plum_curculio_adults_toward_host_trees_and_traps_Flight_versus_walking
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Olpea, I bought a jug of Actara but I’m confused about the dilution rate. I read the label and i get the ounces per acre and total ounces per year, (I’m not in NY State which has more restrictive rates) but it doesn’t give you the dilution rate. It takes me 10 gallons of whatever to cover spray my entire orchard (50x150) How would I calculate the maximum ounces of Actara per year per gallon? label states 16.5
ounces per year per acre, for me give or take 4 ounces per year
Hi Tuff,
You must be spraying pome fruits. Stone fruits have a max annual rate of 11oz./acre/year. For pome fruits the max. rate is 5.5 ounces per acre per application. So the label allows three applications at the max rate for pome fruits.
There are several ways to figure your mix. It looks like your orchard is 7500 sq/ft. That equates to about 0.1721 acres (7500/43560). You are using 10 gal to cover 0.1721 acres. That equates to about 58 gal. of spray mix per acre. So at the max rate you could mix actara at a rate of 0.0948 ounces of actara per gallon of water (5.5oz./58 gal. of water per acre).
If you don’t have a scale, it can be tough. Without a scale, I would probably figure about 2 teaspoons of actara per gallon of water. Actara is about 1/2 as dense as water. So one teaspoon of water weighs 0.083. So a couple teaspoons of Actara is about the closest you’ll get to a good label rate.
In terms of the amount of Actara per year per gallon, actually that question is a bit confusing. The reason is that there is no max annual mix rate per gallon per year, because to figure a max rate per gallon per year would include all three sprays in one super concentrated spray.
In other words, lets assume you are using an insecticide which has a labeled rate of one ounce per gallon of water per application. Lets further assume the insecticide is labeled for 10 sprays or, 10 ounces per acre per year. If we tried to come up with a maximum ounces of the pesticide per year per gallon, it would be 10 ounces per gallon, I suppose. But it would be a violation for anyone to spray 10 ounces per gallon of the supposed insecticide.
So it’s best just to figure your individual rate per application. Once you’ve figured that number, it’s a calculation to figure how many applications the label allows.
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Olpea, Thanks for the reply and the math
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I am using Triazacide for my first couple of sprays on stone fruits. Does it only kill if PC (or other bugs) get hit directly by the spray? Or does it also kill if they show up after I spray, by consuming or by contacting sprayed vegetation?
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Triazicide will kill them. I never needed a direct hit. But I did use Bonide Turbo Sticker mixed in with it so it would stick to the fruit.
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Thanks MrsG! Our overnight temps aren’t quite in the 60s so I don’t know if the PC are active yet. I haven’t seen any, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here. I do have a few tiny apricot fruits that managed to survive the freezes we had. The other stone fruit are at, or nearing 100% petal fall, so I need to get a spray on tomorrow when the wind will finally be down below 15mph. Just didn’t know how helpful that spray would be if the PC aren’t active for a few more days. I will be doing a follow up spray(s), but I am being paranoid and am trying to get the timing right. 
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It won’t be long. I am now in a different zone and don’t have them. But in RI I was always ready. They are fast and work at night.
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Olpea who is in Kansas also should be able to easily answer your question.
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That is what I have gathered from all the posts from experienced growers. Makes me consider spraying at night, if I could light up the trees well enough to see! 
From posts above, I read Mark uses Actara for his first 2 sprays. I haven’t invested in that product yet. I do try follow his comments, even though he is several hours east of me. It’s helpful to know pest activity and timing of sprays etc,
Question: would an unsprayed orchard work for cider apples or would PC cause most of the apples to abort and drop prematurely?
Planning future of my trees- too much for me to handle with clay and bags.
Question: My apricot is in shuck fall. But my night temperatures are still in 40s, should I spray for PC?
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PC damage in apples usually does not cause apples to drop. Often, apple cell expansion will squish the eggs. Coddling moths also like apples.
Worse, you will have cider with extra protein!
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