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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Curcullio question

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  • From: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Curcullio question
  • Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:13:11 -0500

Sounds like a good plan to me. If you don't have very many trees, you can also use Surround. There is more info on its use at http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/kaolin-clay-apples.html . it doesn't kill them, but repels them as well a few other pests.

The critical timing period for plum curculio has historically been at fruit set just as the fruit begins to swell. However, recent research has shown that plum curculio females are reproductively mature well in advance of this stage. We estimate 95 percent of the females are mated after 290 GDD50, which is typically right at shuck split in stone fruits and fruit set in pome fruits. Females are ready to oviposit long before fruit are large enough to support the developing larvae.

Once eggs have been laid, plum curculio larvae need approximately 400 GDD50 to complete development. Because of the zero-tolerance standards for larvae in processed cherries, tart cherry orchards should have a comprehensive control strategy in place by 400 GDD50 before harvest to minimize the risk of larvae in harvested fruit. You can stop sprays at 340 GDD50 after petal fall date.

By the way, in pruning peach trees today, we do still have plenty of live buds. Looks like we only had about 15% loss when our temps hit -13/-14 for over 8 hours. Once I get through all of the varieties, I will post a complete list of varieties we have and which were the most cold hearty if anyone is interested.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
To: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>; "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 9:06 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Curcullio question


Before the big freeze I had spread sheets under my big plum tree and also went around moving a couple of sheets under smaller peach trees. Tapping got me a total of 120 curculios. If half were females and each can destroy 300 fruits, that would mean they could have destroyed 18,000 fruits. I had decided it would be worth my while to spray the peaches with Neem and keep the sheets under the big tree and keep tapping it. By keeping one favored tree for bait, and making the peaches taste bad, I figured I could actually kill most of the curculios and eventually reach a point in the year where I could stop spraying. I am pretty good at spotting bugs, so it was an easy matter to pick up and crunch the weevils, not to mention very satisfying! I could have dumped the debris collected by tapping into a bucket of soapy water, but then I wouldn't have had any idea how many curculio the were or whether the numbers were dropping. For those of you who still have the chance of getting crops, you might want to try this and report in. For others like Dennis, do you think this is a reasonably good approach? I don't dare use chemicals. Donna







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