Major Insects of Apple, Peach and Pear Trees in the Home Orchard

Major Insects of Apple, Peach and Pear Trees in the Home Orchard

Henry W. Hogmire West Virginia University

Tree Fruit Research and Education Center Kearneysville, WV

Apple Pests

Plum Curculio

• Beetle (snout weevil)

• 3/16 inch long

• Dark brown with whitish to gray patches

• 3 pairs of humps on back

• Overwinter in leaf litter in woods, hedgerows

Plum Curculio

• Move into apple trees during bloom

• Fruit injury begins at

petal fall stage, continues for about 4-6 weeks

• Most injury occurs when temperatures above 70 F

• Primary injury from egg- laying, some feeding

Plum Curculio

• Egg-laying injury appears as crescent-shaped slit

• May be multiple scars per fruit

• Earlier blooming varieties are injured first

Plum Curculio

• Crescent or “D”-shaped scars enlarge as fruit

expands

• Most larvae are crushed by expanding fruit

• Some injured fruit drop

• Larvae survive and

continue development in fallen fruit, pupate in soil

Codling Moth

• Moth is 3/8-inch long

• Gray with coppery patch at wing tip

• Begin emerging at late bloom to petal fall,

continuing into late June

• 2^nd flight early July into August

• Partial 3^rd flight late

August into September

Codling Moth

• Eggs laid on leaves and fruit of apple and pear

• Hatching larvae enter fruit through calyx or side

• May be multiple injuries per fruit

• Excrement (frass) and sap exudes from entry sites

• Entries may be deep or shallow (stings)

Codling Moth

• Deep entry tunnels

usually extend to core

• Often feed on seeds

• Larvae are creamy white to pink, up to 5/8-inch

• Feed in fruit 3-4 weeks

• Premature drop of injured fruit

Codling Moth

• Mature larvae exit fallen fruit and crawl up trunk

• Spin cocoon under bark of trunk to overwinter

Codling Moth

• Monitor with traps

• Lure contains female sex attractant (pheromone)

• Males attracted to trap

• Captured on sticky-coated trap bottom

• 2 traps per site

• Control if >5 moths/trap/

week

Apple Maggot

• Adult fly is ¼-inch long

• Wings with 4 black bands

• White spot and 3 (males) or 4 (females) white stripes

• Emerge from soil from mid- June through August

• Emergence typically follows rain event

Apple Maggot

• Females insert eggs beneath skin of apple

• Punctures appear as pits or dimples

• Multiple injuries/fruit

• Early maturing and thin- skinned apples are more severely infested

• Eggs hatch in 2-10 days

Apple Maggot

• Larvae (maggots) cause brown, winding trails

through fruit flesh.

• Discoloration of fruit flesh due to bacteria

Apple Maggot

• Larvae (maggots) up to

¼-inch long

• Creamy white, legless, 2 mouth hooks

• Feed in fruit flesh for 20-30 days

• Injured fruit often drop early

• Maggots exit fruit and pupate in soil

Apple Maggot

• Monitor fly emergence with yellow panel trap

• Surface coated with protein bait and glue

• Control within 7 days of capturing 1 fly/trap/week

Apple Maggot

• Monitor fly emergence with sticky red sphere

• With or without apple volatile

• Threshold is 1 fly/trap/

week or 5 flies/trap/week if apple volatile used

• Control immediately if threshold reached

Peach Pests

“Catfacing Insects”

• Pest complex responsible for various injuries

• Most severe injury resembles cat’s face

• Injury caused by adults that move between weed hosts and fruit trees

Tarnished plant bug Brown stink bug

Dusky stink bug Green stink bug

“Catfacing Insects”

• Early season injury when fruit ½-1-inch diameter

• Corky, depressed areas

• Fruit becomes deformed

• Hand thin injured fruits

Catfacing Injury

“Catfacing Insects”

• Injury when fruit 1 to 2- inch diameter

• Small corky, depressed areas

• Fruit not deformed

Scarring Injury

“Catfacing Insects”

• Injury when fruit >1-inch diameter

• Strings or droplets of gum

• Darker green blotches

• Late season injuries may increase brown rot

Gummosis/water-soaked Injuries

Oriental Fruit Moth

• Moth is ¼-inch long

• Mottled gray color

• Emergence begins at pink to bloom

• 4-5 generations/year

• Eggs laid on twigs,

terminal leaves or fruit

Oriental Fruit Moth

• 1^st and 2^nd generation larvae injure shoot tips, called “flagging”

• Larvae in shoots for 1.5-5 weeks

• Single larvae can injure multiple shoots

Oriental Fruit Moth

• 2^nd and later generation larvae injure fruit

• Larvae and injury similar to codling moth

• Excrement (frass) and gum on fruit surface

• Larvae may also enter fruit through stem near harvest

Oriental Fruit Moth

• Monitor male moths with pheromone traps

• 2 traps/site

• Control if capture >15 moths/trap/week for 1^st flight or >10 moths/trap/

week for later flights

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Moth is ½-inch long

• Metallic blue-black with yellow bands

• Clear wings

• Emergence begins in early May

• Day fliers

• 2 generations/year

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Eggs laid in wounds of all stone fruit trees on trunk, scaffold limbs and small branches

• Higher infestations on older trees with more wounds

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Feeding girdles scaffold limbs and branches which break from fruit load

• Gradual decline in production

• Tree loss from trunk

girdling or from diseases that enter wounds

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Larvae up to ¾-inch long

• Creamy white with light brown head

• Feed beneath bark in cambium for 40-60 days

• Overwinter in various larval stages

• Control if >2 larvae/tree

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Injury indicated by brown sawdust-like wood

borings and excrement (frass) mixed with gum

• Clear gumming not from borer injury

Lesser Peachtree Borer

• Injury indicated by empty pupal case protruding

from wound, from where moth emerged

• Control if >2 empty pupal cases/tree

Peachtree Borer

• Moths are ¾-inch long

• Metallic blue-black

• Narrow yellow bands on male

• Broad orange band on female

• Emergence begins in June

• 1 generation/year

Female Male

Peachtree Borer

• Injure trunk near soil line

• Can attack healthy trees

• Wood borings and

excrement (frass) mixed with gum at base of tree

• Tree loss from trunk

girdling or from diseases that enter wounds

Peachtree Borer

• Can girdle and kill young tree in 1 year

• Moth balls around trunk will repel adult borers

Lesser Peachtree and Peachtree Borer

• Monitor male moths with pheromone traps

• 2 traps/site

• Control if >10 moths/

trap/week

Pear Pest

Pear Psylla

• Adult is 1/8-inch long

• Reddish-brown to black

• Like miniature cicada

• Young (nymphs) are yellow to brown

• 3 generations/year

Pear Psylla

• Sooty mold grows on honeydew excreted by pear psylla

• Sooty mold blackens fruit, foliage and bark, reduces photosynthesis and return bloom

Non-Chemical Control

• Pick up and destroy fallen fruit.

• Shallow cultivation beneath trees in summer (destroy larvae of PC, CM, AM).

• Wrap apple and pear trunks with corrugated cardboard bands in late summer (collect CM larvae) and destroy bands in winter.

• Use sticky red spheres (1 per 100 fruit) for apple maggot.

• Control broadleaf weeds with cultivation or mulching (reduces TPB & SB numbers).

Chemical Control

Oil

• Good for aphid and mite eggs, scale, pear psylla

• Apply when first green tissue appears

• Do not apply within 24 hrs of freezing temperatures

• Spray trees to drip

Chemical Control

Chemical Control

Most Fruit Insects

Permethrin Carbaryl

Carbaryl Malathion Captan

Pyrethrins Sulfur

Chemical Control

Aphids, Scales Borers & Many Other Fruit Insects

Malathion Permethrin

Chemical Control

Organic Options

Many Fruit Pests

Rotenone Pyrethrins

Neem-based Soap

Codling moth, Oriental fruit moth, leafrollers

Bacillus

thuringiensis

Spinosad

Thanks!

Questions?