Quick Facts...
- Codling moth is the most serious insect pest of apples and pears. Thinning fruit, trapping the insects, and appropriately timing insecticide applications can control this insect in home orchards.
- Many pests affecting apples and pears can be controlled with horticultural oil sprays applied to dormant trees in spring.
- Codaphone messages can assist with timing of treatments for orchard pests in the fruit-growing areas of the Western Slope. Call (970) 244-1806.
Several insect and mite pests attack apple and pear trees in home plantings. Some, such as codling moth, are serious problems in Colorado almost every year and require regular treatment. Others, such as mites and scales, cause more subtle injuries and should be monitored and treated when necessary.
Codling Moth
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| Figure 1: Codling moth larva in core. |
The immature (larval) stage of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella) is the worm in "wormy apples." Codling moth also commonly damages pears and larger-fruited varieties of crabapples. Wherever these fruit trees are grown in Colorado, codling moth is a serious problem and usually will need some treatment to protect the fruit.
Codling moth has two or three generations per year. Adult moths first emerge (first flight) during midspring, usually around the period of full bloom. This flight continues for about six or seven weeks, peaking a couple of weeks after the first moths become active.
First-flight moths lay eggs on the leaves. The larvae first feed on the leaves, later moving to the developing fruit. After feeding within the fruit, the full-grown larvae migrate out and crawl down the trunk of the tree to pupate under bark flaps or in other protected locations.
The second, and most important, generation occurs in early summer. Adults emerge in early July, laying eggs directly on the fruit. The young caterpillars tunnel into the fruit shortly after egg hatch. Most of the fruit damage occurs at this time. Again, when full grown, they leave the fruit to seek protected areas around the tree to complete their development.
Occasionally, when temperatures are above average, a small percentage of the population will continue to develop and produce a third generation. The others remain dormant until the following spring. This third generation causes little injury, except to late-maturing fruit.
Insecticides are a common technique used to control codling moth and
should be applied shortly after petal fall. Many people continue these
treatments at 10- to 14-day intervals throughout much of the summer. Permethrin
and carbaryl (Sevin) are the most common homeowner treatments for codling
moth. (Note: Never apply insecticides during periods of bloom.
Treatments at this time will kill beneficial pollinators, such as honeybees.)
Insecticides can be limited and treatments better timed by using pheromone traps. These specialized traps are baited with the sex attractant of the female codling moth. The traps capture male moths and give an estimation of when mating and egg-laying take place. The first insecticide application often is optimal about three weeks after the first consistent captures of male moths. The traps also can give some estimation of how many insects are present. It has been suggested that for backyard orchards, there is little benefit from treatment if trap captures are less than five per week. In some of the Western Slope fruit-producing counties, codling moth and other fruit insects are routinely monitored. Information on their activity is made available through codaphone messages and other media by Colorado State University Extension county offices and regional Experiment Stations.
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| Figure 2: Frass from codling moth on apple. |
Several nonchemical approaches also help control codling moth. Thinning apple fruit can limit codling moth infestations, because many of the caterpillars successfully enter fruit through points where fruits are in contact with each other. Thinning also helps provide better control of codling moth when sprays are used. Pick up and dispose of any apples that show evidence of codling moth entry wounds. Early entries ("stings") appear as a reddish circle on fruit, while more advanced infestations show brown frass that the caterpillars excrete at the wound opening.
A burlap or corrugated cardboard band around the trunk can cause many larvae to settle and pupate at these sites, where they can be regularly collected and destroyed. Some control of adult codling moths is possible using homemade traps containing water and molasses mixtures, typically in about a 10:1 ratio. These water-molasses traps capture both sexes. Pheromone traps that only collect males cannot control codling moth.
Pear Psylla
Pear psylla (Cacopsylla pyricola) are a serious pest of pears grown along the Western Slope. These aphid-like insects suck the sap from the leaves and produce large, sticky drops of honeydew that can coat the tree and fruit. Heavy infestations also greatly weaken pear trees.
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| Figure 3: Pear psylla nymph in honeydew. |
Pear psylla spend the winter near previously infested pear trees. They return in early spring, typically around late March in the Grand Junction area. Once on the trees, they begin to feed and lay eggs, producing several generations throughout the growing season.
Pear psylla are highly resistant to most available insecticides. Oil sprays, sometimes combined with an insecticide, can be effective when applied during the dormant season shortly after the pear psylla adults return to the trees. Sulfur-based sprays also can be effective but should never be applied with oils; plant injury may result. Extension codaphone messages in the Western Slope fruit-growing areas can aid accurate timing of pear psylla treatments.
Pear psylla problems are greatly lessened in unsprayed orchards, where they are heavily attacked by parasites.
Apple Maggot
Eastern strains of the apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) have become established in certain areas around Colorado Springs and Denver. Apple maggot is a potentially serious pest of apple as the maggots (larvae) tunnel the fruit, creating characteristic dark tracks. Infested fruits also are prone to spoilage. There are naturally occurring populations of apple maggot on the Western Slope. However, these strains restrict their feeding to wild hosts such as hawthorn and have never been observed to infest apples.
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| Figure 4: Apple maggot injury to apple. |
Apple maggots spend the winter in the pupal stage around the base of apple trees. The adult flies emerge in midsummer, typically between mid-July and early August, and lay eggs on the fruit. There is only one generation per year.
Apple maggot flies can be trapped with yellow sticky boards or red sticky spheres (super apples), the latter developed specifically for this insect. These traps are useful for timing sprays to control the insect, with sprays timed to coincide with periods when the flies are being captured. Furthermore, the use of several red sticky spheres per tree also can provide substantial control of this insect by killing adult females before they lay all their eggs.
Spider Mites
Spider mites can be serious pests of orchard plantings but are rare in
home orchards. Outbreaks typically occur during hot summer weather, with
mites producing scorch-like symptoms on infested leaves. Trees that are
damaged by spider mites typically yield poorly and produce smaller fruit.
Spider mite outbreaks usually are stimulated by applications of nonselective
insecticides such as carbaryl (Sevin), which are destructive to their
natural enemies.
The spider mites that attack apple and pear usually spend the winter in protected sites on the trees. Horticultural oils applied during the dormant season usually can provide adequate control of spider mites in home plantings.
There are relatively few options for control of spider mite outbreaks.
Sprinklers irrigating the tree or washing it with a forceful stream of
water from a hose for brief periods during the day can suppress outbreaks.
Insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils are among the few effective
chemical controls available to backyard growers.
Eriophyid Mites
Pears and apples sometimes can be infested by various species of eriophyid mites. These minute mites cause several disorders on the leaves and fruit. For example, the pear russet mite causes a dark thickening of the pear fruit skin. Blister mites produce small, scabby patches on the leaf surfaces of both apple and pear.
Eriophyid mites do not affect fruit production in backyard orchards, although the damage they produce sometimes attracts attention. Horticultural oils sprayed during the dormant season can kill overwintering eggs. Most orchard insecticides (including carbaryl) can control eriophyid mites.
Scale Insects
Scale insects occasionally damage apples and pears. Perhaps most damaging is the San Jose scale (Quadraspidiotus perniciosus), a tiny, circular scale found on fruit as well as branches. Heavy infestations can cause death of infested branches and spotting of infested fruit and can contribute to a general decline of the tree.
Scale infestations typically are slow to develop. Regular treatments are rarely needed in backyard orchards. Treatments with horticultural oils during dormant periods in spring can provide adequate control of these insects.
Aphids
Several species of aphids, most notably the green apple aphid (Aphis pomi) can damage the new growth of apple. Also, the rosy apple aphid (Dysaphis plantiginea) may injure developing fruit, causing it to become mottled and misshapen.
Aphids on fruit trees spend the winter as eggs clustered near the buds. After eggs hatch in spring, the aphids feed on the emerging leaves, causing slight leaf curls. Horticultural oils applied in late winter or early spring (dormant season) can prevent these problems.
Malathion and insecticidal soaps also can help suppress aphid outbreaks after
leaves emerge. However, aphid infestations typically are short-lived on
apples. Aphids usually leave the tree by late spring, flying to alternate
summer host plants. If aphids are not seriously damaging the majority
of terminals or injuring fruit, there is little benefit from insecticides
for aphid problems after leaves emerge.
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| Figure 5: Woolly apple aphid on stem. |
The woolly apple aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum) affects apples in a different manner than other aphids. This insect has long, thread-like strands of wax that cover its body. They infest twigs, callous tissues around pruning cuts, and sometimes roots of apple trees. Sustained infestations of woolly apple aphid over several years cause cankers to develop that can girdle and kill parts of the plant. Insecticidal soaps and carbaryl (Sevin) are effective against the woolly apple aphid where it occurs on stems. There are no effective treatments for woolly apple aphid on roots.
Pear Slug (Pear Sawfly)
The pear slug (Caliroa cerasi) is a rather unusual insect that feeds on the upper leaf surface of pears, sweet cherries and several related plants. The larvae are slug-like but actually are the immature stage of a type of nonstinging wasp (sawfly). Feeding damage by pear slug larvae is highly characteristic in that injury is confined to areas between the main veins on the upper leaf surface. This produces a lacy, skeletonized injury on infested leaves.
Pear slug larvae are easy to control with any home orchard insecticide, including insecticidal soaps. Larvae also may be washed off with a vigorous jet of water. A light dusting of the leaves with wood ashes is another highly effective control. See fact sheet 5.560, Pear Slugs.
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| Figure 6: White apple leafhopper injury to foliage. |
White Apple Leafhopper
The white apple leafhopper (Typhlocyba pomaria) is a common insect on apples and related plants. They are small, pale-colored, elongated insects that are found on the undersides of the leaves, where they feed on sap. Injuries by these insects produce characteristic white flecking. Serious infestations are rare in backyard plantings but occur frequently in orchards where insecticides kill many of their natural enemies.
"Catfacing Insects"
Several insects distort apple fruit by their feeding. This condition is known as a "catfacing injury." Caterpillars of climbing cutworms, such as the speckled green fruitworm and the fruittree leafroller, may chew areas of young apples that later appear as dimpled scabs on the fruit surface. Sucking "true bugs" -- such as stink bugs, lygus bugs, boxelder bugs and campylomma bugs -- sometimes damage developing fruit by killing small patches of surface tissue.
Problems with catfacing insects are of little concern to home orchardists, because the fruit remains in generally good condition despite the scarring. Occasionally, more severe problems occur when orchards are next to alfalfa fields. Alfalfa is a common host plant for catfacing insects such as the lygus bugs, which migrate in large numbers following harvest.
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