@warmwxrules Great info, thanks. I guess I’ll go ahead and bag the ones with one PC bite to save them from codling moth later on. 600 bags in last two days, another 200 to go. I need a different system next year. Maybe go Full-Scott.
@warmwxrules,
Please keep that pic on file. Whenever newbies what to know what plum curculio bite marks look like, we will show this pic. Your PC pressure on your plums is off the chart.
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Sheeesh!
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I was looking at my peach tree after work and finally saw a plum curculio! I’ve never seen this bug until today. It fell into my hand when I tried to grab it and was hastily crushed. I mixed up some Sevin and sprayed down the whole tree.
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Back in the old days they use to lay a white sheet under the tree and then shake it. The curcs would fall to the ground and play dead. They are neat bugs…almost look alien.
I have them really bad most years. They must come in from the wild thickets of plums near here.
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Uglibugs!
They oughta be out en masse tonite with this heat. Gonna hit the plums and cherries with another dose of permethrin
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I finished bagging my apple trees here in central MD, and there was less curc damage than I have ever seen at dime size fruit. Maybe 10%, probably less of my apples have been hit. Some years it’s more like 90%. This prolonged cool weather has been great. Few pests and the apples look amazing.
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Spray it thick…i’m going to fog them tonite! I add a little dish soap to the mix. I squished a curculio when i was out investigating the apples. Probably has cousins, sisters, brothers, uncles, nieces all ready to move in.
It is a relief to me when I get my apples bagged. I lose a few apples after bagging but most are secure from more bug damage. After bagging apples a few years I have found if I bag at pea to dime size most of my fruit doesn’t have any damage. At this stage one can make a better guess as to which fruit will survive the June drop (May at my location).
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I agree. They Say not to use permethrin on apples because of the mites, but I usually give them one hit between petal fall and bagging. Fruit drop is just beginning now. My Gala tree is in its biennial off year so I don’t want to thin much.
Timing is everything.
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Thinning Question Answered: In another thread @scottfsmith distinguishes crescent egg-laying scars from round probably feeding-only scars. This stops my quandary about which scarred apples to leave and which to cull when thinning. Thanks Scott.
“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’m guessing that without an egg inserted, those round scar apples are no more likely to drop than perfect apples.
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Right, the feeding scars will produce a fine apple.
There are even many egg lays which are duds. The non duds will have a pinpoint darker spot in it which is the start of the trail into the Apple. It is often moist there as well because the skin is open. On my Swayzie I missed one spray by mistake and I am having to look carefully to see which apples to keep as most got bites. It also sizes up really slowly which gives it a longer window of vulnerability.
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Thanks to @mamuang for mentioning pulling the sides of the baggies apart after putting them on each apple. Otherwise the sides of the bag stick to the apple and create good conditions for rot. This last week I “fluffed” 800 bags. Discovered it’s much easier to do this at the time you first bag vs weeks later after the sides of the bag are stuck together. Last year I didn’t do this and I suspect this added to my colossal drop of fruit all summer long.
I need a stronger mix. Was checking the apples i sprayed last weekend and had a ton of pc hits since then…I actually squished one on an apple. It did rain a lot last week so maybe some of it got washed off. Plums all look good. Sprayed again everything…very cool tonite so probably not a lot of movement.
I worry about apple drops with PC in them. I wonder if putting down a soil drench around the tree base might be a good idea to kill larvae?
What did you spray? I sprayed Triazicide at petals fall and again at a week later , I still found PC marks on my asian pears, and plums. I just bought fresh triazicide couple of months ago. Maybe PC has built some kind drug resistance.
That is the first photo I have seen that looks like what I get. I know we all think we have it worse than anyone else, but until you posted that photo I was 100% convinced I had more PC pressure than anyone. Now I know I’m not alone! If I don’t spray, every fruit on my tree looks like those all the way around each fruit. And like others have just said, plums and pluots are by far the most susceptible for me and also always get hit first.
I’m glad @scottfsmith mentioned he sees them most at night. It has always amazed me that I have extreme PC activity in my orchard yet I can honestly count on 2 hands how many actual adult PC I have seen in last 5 years. I almost never see them and have often figured its because they do their dirty deeds mostly at night. Now I know.
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For me, PC are mainly a problem for plums
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Hello everyone, I’m also trying Spectracide/Triazacide this year to control PC on Apple, Plum, & Peach. I haven’t had great results with about 50% damage still. I previously had a lot of ant activity in the trees which is 100% gone now, so I know the insecticide has some potency.
Are there any commercial use products that have the same active ingredient as Triazacide? I’m just wondering how the recommended concentrations match between Triazacide and a commercial version.
Are you using a sticker with it? If not it
will quickly wash off after a downpour or two.
I have peony that has a lot of ants, I sprayed the peony and the ants are?all gone. I also see half dead / struggling earth worms. I felt very sorry for causing this. I will be think twice before I use triazicide again. I don’t want to kill good bug/ worms
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