On what fruits?
I’ve done this with success on apples
Plums… i just slice them… the smaller the better…they can heal. Scott had mentioned it a while back.
I brought in some “wild” branches in hopes of pollinating my plum tree. I think that’s why I had bug issues this year. 
I actually inspected my peach tree and don’t see any issues. I’ve also done a thorough inspection of my plum tree now and see some plums without damage. They are higher up, further away from the branches that I brought in.
What!? So good to know! How early do you need to catch it? Like when the plums are quarter size?
Not sure…i think if its still reasonably small…it will have better success. Once the egg hatches, it starts feeding…and burrows deeper into the fruit…so game over at that point? probably. This was a Lavina i did it to last year …couple weeks(month?) don’t recall… after slicing Pc out
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Now that is some of the best information I’ve seen in a while! And if the damage from a cut is no worse than your photo shows, that is incredible. As I’ve said, I just haven’t had much success at applying Imidan after a pc hit- even when I am 100% sure it is only one day old. I’ve read that can help (ie “kickback”) but it hasn’t for me. Your suggestion makes sense and I appreciate you sharing it!
One of the first things you need to do is to figure out if you have curculio or oriental fruit moth or both. They require very different treatments. Find a worm and put it on your hand, if it crawls in a definite direction its OFM, if it just flails about its a PC (no legs).
If you have PC they can be controlled without poisons, I find Surround (edible clay particles that irritates them) works very well. But it does require 3-4 sprays in the spring. At this point the PC is done damaging for the year so its more planning for next year if thats the problem you have.
The OFM is more challenging organically, you need to spray spinosad and/or Bt when they are exposed (around egg laying time) and it requires spraying throughout the season. Surround also helps with them. If you didn’t find it yet I made a guide for my spray schedule which gives some hints on how to use Surround.
The major problem with growing peaches and plums organically is the rots. You need to spray a whole lot of sulphur to try to control them and will still lose a good amount. It depends on how humid it is where you are though. I now use synthetic disease control sprays to deal with the rots, but I was all organic for ten years or so and found it could work with effort.
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Scott, are you done spraying Surround at this point in the season?
I still have a good coat on my peaches and a decent coating on the pears and plums. Apples are now bagged. I haven’t seen any PC damage so I am inclined to stop spraying the Surround.
Which sprayers work best with surround? I read through the archives and it looks like a lot of sprayers will clog up from the clay. Curious which sprayers work flawlessly with it?
A lot of rots begin with insect injury
I am almost done for PC, will hit Euro plums this weekend and thats probably it. I have had problems with very late strikes on the necks of the Euro plums in past years.
I keep spraying Surround at a reduced rate through the summer for stinkbugs and moths.
The diaphragm sprayers are more able to take stuff like Surround. I have used both diaphragm and piston sprayers with success. Make sure after every spray to rinse and flush to clear water coming out (I take off the nozzle head to flush enough water through).
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You can buy cheap hobby knife sets at menards/etc…almost like a scalpel …super sharp and you can be more precise then a razor blade.
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Ugh! After reading back through this thread I cracked a plum open and the worm tried to walk away. Suspect ofm now. Does surround help control them?
In my area, OFM has about 5 generations. I see evidence of them until late Sept.
@scottfsmith has used Surround much longer than I do so Scott would be able to give you a better answer. I bag and put Surround on the bags. Work for me.
Surround is not the primary control but it does help. The main controls are Bt and spinosad, I put some in every tank post-bloom. Also prune out any flagging (bent) shoot tips, they will have a worm in them.
This year I have only found CM in apples, no OFM so far. They should be along any day now, the new shoots are about 6-8" long and that is usually when I start getting tip strikes.
I did find quite a few PC in peaches recently, from the rainy period a week ago when I could not spray. You don’t see the damage on the outside so its harder to detect, but I look for smaller or deformed fruits or ones with a little dot of sap on the surface… often there is a PC in those. I ordered more nematodes and will be putting them down Monday.
@scottfsmith where do you get your spinosad? Placing an order for surround and spinosad tomorrow. Between the pests and squirrels my plum harvest is going to suck. 
I bought mine a long time ago, all they sold was the commercial size. Because of that I have a lifetime supply more or less, I am only 1/3 through it. These days I think the Monterey “garden insect spray” is the most common form people buy it in. One quart is 16 gallons of spray.
Dow now sells a new formulation called Conserve SC which is a lot cheaper per spray (like 1/5th the cost per spray) but you need to spend 5x for it - you get 25x the concentration. That is probably what I would buy now if I needed more.
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Thank you for mentioning Conserve SC. Just found out my Spinosad is almost gone. Look up Conseve’s price. It’s $145.
Conserve SC vs Monterey Spinosad looks like Nufilm17 vs Bonide Turbo spreader. For a long term investment, it is worth the price.
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Well, I took a video of one of my caterpillar enemies.
It did flail for a while, but started moving eventually, rather like an earthworm.
So, although, I couldn’t see any legs per se, I’m thinking it’s PC. I’ve now killed the bugger, so no more evidence. I’ve been good about picking up bad fruit and putting it in the trash instead of compost, to avoid reinfecting additional fruit.
My neighbor has some chickens, so I might bring them over eventually to peck at the dirt and get any other little worms that I might have missed.
I also bought some ziplock bags and am thinking about covering my peaches, just in case it’s OFM and to deter the birds and squirrels — such cute animals until they start pecking and stealing my fruit. Hahaha!
Water- zip lock bags are usually used for apples and pears. Most people avoid using ziplock bags on stone fruit like peaches/nectsrines/plums for fear of not enough ventilation leading to rot.
For me, the only bags that work with peaches are paper bags. Clemson paper bags are what I’ve used.
Plastic bags and organza bags do not deter birds or squirrels. I have not had squirrels taking peaches in Clemson bags but I won’t be surprised if they do. They can smell ripe peaches.
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