Apple Tree Pests

12 years ago

I have two issues I'm not certain are related with my apple trees this year. I have a caterpillar tent in one of them that is fairly large at the end of one limb. The tent is not as dense as many I've seen around here, but the leaves are all dead within it. It's also covered with small dark brown dots that look like eggs on the inside.

Nearly all the apples are disfigured and almost all have brown dirt-looking mounds where something entered. I've now seen two of what look to be adult apple maggot flies on the apples. Also, very many apples are on the ground already, far before being ripe.

Could someone please help me identify what is/are the culprit or culprits? If you have suggestions to take care of them as well I'd appreciate it. I'm trying not to use any harmful chemicals if possible as we'd like to eat any good apples we may be able to salvage. If I have to treat it with something nasty and wait until next year, so be it.

Finally, is there something I should do next year to treat it early on so I don't have these issues? I've read dormant oils and pheromone traps may be in order. Is that the case? I know of at least one other tree on my block that looks the same and it won't be treated at all, so I should probably protect mine.

Thank you.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

djoyce
Original Author
12 years ago
Picture of a deformed apple.
larry_gene
12 years ago
The dots and dirt mounds are the frass, or excrement, of the various larvae.

BT would work on the tent; spinosad may work on both.
Related Professionals
Toms River Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · South Bend Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Saginaw Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Janesville Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Bowling Green Landscape Contractors · New London Landscape Contractors · Montréal Landscape Contractors · Richmond Home Additions · Southaven Home Additions · Beaumont Home Additions · McAllen Home Additions · Wausau Home Additions · Mesquite Home Additions · El Paso Home Additions · Bismarck Home Additions
djoyce
Original Author
12 years ago
Very helpful, thanks larry_gene. Sounds like I should get some spinosad asap and spray it down. Should I spray early next spring again or should I use the tree bands and/or pheromone traps? Anything else?
jean001a
12 years ago
Caterpillars of various kinds live & feed within their own webbing. Usually it's adequate to simply disrupt the web so that predators can get at the cats.

No point in preventive sprays as this sort of thing happens only occasionally. Damage is minor unless it's a very young tree. In the latter case, the tree would be small enough that you would be able to disrupt the tents or sweep them out.
larry_gene
12 years ago
Natural methods are good, but I wouldn't rely on predation (usually wasps) to control a large established colony.

Consider this year a washout, salvage what fruit you can, and next year be vigilant about the beginnings of tent caterpillars and fruit pests. Tents are often pruned out of trees if that would be a small percentage of the whole plant and discarded or even burned. You have to get rid of those caterpillars before they become egg-laying adult moths. Next year earlier applications of the sprays mentioned above will help.

I'm not an expert about the fruit pest, you have to discourage the adult fly before it penetrates the fruit, then it is too late.
alan haigh
12 years ago
Advice from regions that don't have your pest issues is not very useful, especially when it is given with excessive confidence of success.

In the humid regions an organic approach requires 3 or 4 applications of Surround just to start things off, but to begin to offer specific advice it is important to know where the trees are as specifically as possible.

The leaf destroying pest is called fall web worm and the advice for that was fine. Coddling moth is what got into the seed cavity and destroyed the usefulness of the apple but the bumps may be from plum curculio. You can look up all these pests to get confirmation.

It is relatively easy to produce fruit without the help of modern synthetic chemistry in regions where there's not much rain during the growing season but it is a lot easier in wetter regions to use these tools.