North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John McCuan <wawo@yahoo.com>]

I sent this question out in February, but I never saw it on the  list and never saw a response to it, so I'm assuming it didn't make it  to the posting.  I tried to check in the archives, but I couldn't  access it.  I added an update to the end

Hello all,

The other day as I was pruning one of my young apple trees, I pulled on what I thought was just a withered leaf.  It was attached to the branch by two white filaments, which I immediately thought were insect-made.  As I examined it, I discovered the leaf had been sort of mangled.  I grubbed around in it, and inside a tiny stem-like tube was a 1/4 inch long brown worm.  Altogether I found about 20 of these on my 8 young apple trees.

Does anyone know what this is?  I looked in my pest ID books and wasn't able to find it.  What do I do about it?

I live near Atlanta, Georgia, Zone 7 if that helps.

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As I mentioned, I found that pest back in February.  Today I examined my apple blossoms, and some petals had brown spots, and some had holes where some insect had apparently eaten.  On one flower I found what looked like a more mature caterpillar of the same species that I found back in February.  He is still brown, without a head cap.  He's now about 3/4 of an inch long, smooth, and thin.  He's one of those worms that when he moves, his back feet move up almost to his head so that his body is perpendicular to the surface he's walking across - an inchworm.

I looked on the web at a couple of insect identification sites, but couldn't find him.  The closest I could find was something like a cankerworm.  Any suggestions?  What should I do?

Thanks,
Melinda McCuan

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