Penn State Offers Tips To Manage Early Season Orchard Pests

Penn State Offers Tips To Manage Early Season Orchard Pests

Young apple fruit injured by plum curculio adult. (Photo Credit: G. Krawczyk, Penn State)

Greg Krawczyk, Penn State University Extension Tree Fruit Entomologist, says the warm weather in April has accelerated the progress of both fruit production and insect development. The biofix for Oriental fruit moth (OFM) was April 5, which Krawczyk says ties with the earliest OFM biofix date. Biofix for codling moth (CM) was April 27, which was also one of the earliest CM biofixes on record.

“The timing of an insecticide application after the petal fall stage on apples is well synchronized with the best period for the control of European apple sawfly (EAS), rosy apple aphid (RAA), OFM, and plum curculio (PC),” he writes. “If other pests such as European red mites (ERM), scale insects (SJS), and other aphids were not controlled before bloom, the same application also provides the opportunity to manage this group of pests.”

Advertisement

Krawczyk also offers tips for pest control and scouting.

Top Articles
Have a Plan For Climate Change? Why Fruit Growers Need To Act Now

0