Plum Curculio

I went to bag my nectaplum today and even though this is my first year with fruit, they were already here. Lost probably 60-70% and I’m not at all happy about it. I tried to bag earlier but the fruit were so small that the bags were just pulling the fruit off in a light breeze. I was really hoping to avoid spraying since this tree is right next to our pool that our kids are already swimming in despite the frigid temperatures.

3 Likes

Use Surround to spray. Not 100% protection but it helps and is safe.

PC and OFM bore through organza bags in my experience. Usually, you can get away with bagging against those pests for a year or two. Then, they will find your fruit.

2 Likes

Stay away from pears though, right? I had some significant foliage damage on pears in the past when i sprayed malathion

A lot of First Fruit usually drops anyway. Next year will be better!

2 Likes

Ouch! Your picture makes me regret not spraying yesterday, a few shucks have started to fall off of my apricots. You really need to be on the spray program the instant the shucks start to fall.

@mamuang has a good point about Surround; I have too many kids and dogs nearby so I never spray poisons, I only use Surround. It requires more sprays but it works well on curculio once you get the hang of it.

3 Likes

I’ll spare you a picture of all the bags on the ground this morning, we had a thunderstorm roll through at 3am last night. I looked up surround yesterday and couldnt find a local source and amazon didnt have any either.

2 Likes

Try 7 springs farm for Surround. Also I think some places sell smaller quantities mail order.

The storm,would have removed some of the Surround too. I found that I had to put on about three coats with a good sticker.

Please no sticker with Surround. It’s almost impossible to wash it off the fruit. I learned the lesson the hard way.

5 Likes

If you have or plan to have more trees, it’s worth it to buy a big bag of Surround. I store it in a couple of 5 gallon bucket (HD or Lowe’s) it stores well over many months.

Surround is wettable powder (WP). When I mix Surround, I find that the best way (for me) is to use a clean 5 gal bucket, put water in the bucket first before you mix Surround in. Stir well before pouring the mix in a sprayer. No clump this way. No clogging sprayer. Also, my sprayer has a strainer. It really helps prevent clogging.

2 Likes

I almost bought a bag from 7 Springs Farm but ended up ordering from Keystone Pest Solutions. It’s a few dollars more at Keystone (44.95 vs 41.50), but their ground shipping was a good bit cheaper (11.65 vs 19.19). Also, Keystone has a coupon code that you can enter (save5) where you get $5 off when you spend $50 or more, so you’d have to get one more item for that. I bought a bag of sulfur dust with it. They shipped fairly quickly and their customer service is really friendly. Definitely recommend them.

Oops, My solution must have been thinner

I used the max of 3 cup per gallon of water. I had to eat Surround-enhanced apricots :smile:

3 Likes

They must be losing $20 for each order of Surround… shipping 25 lbs from Idaho has to be $30 or more even at wholesale prices. Anyway their loss is your gain :grin: Keystone is a reliable place, I have bought many things there.

… I checked my apricots this morning, zero curc bites found so far. But they are coming very soon I am sure.

4 Likes

I have also started using 3 cups/gallon. Now I get better coverage with the first spraying. I do add a little dawn to the mix and shake it up often.

Yeah, that was odd. They say that they ship from Idaho and PA and will ship from the location closest to you but my tracking showed it shipping from Idaho. Only took 5 days after I placed the order, though. Pretty good with the current situation.

I checked mine too, and they are clean. Unfortunately though, it is very windy today and through Sun, and Mon is expected to have rain, so will not be able to Spray till next Tue. I am hoping that the relatively cold weather keeps the curculios hiding and staying away from the trees.

2 Likes

@mamuang Roughly how many gallons of Surround/water mix for one coat of a small tree, say 8 ft tall x 10 ft wide? Is one gallon in the ballpark?

Ham,
I can’t be sure but I think a gal per tree is a mininmum. I tend to lay it thick on each tree including all sides of branches and scaffolds to prevent PC from walking around.

Maybe, @scottfsmith could give you a better idea the amount of mix to cover a tree.

Does PC lose interest in plums as they get bigger??? Just wondering if I will need to keep them coated with surround until they are picked.