North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

I was just out in the yard, home on my lunch break.
The first thing I noticed that there are more Japanese Beetles on the 
grape vines than I have seen all summer up until now. I'm not too 
worried about that. The growing season is winding down anyway.

What I am concerned about is the number off apple maggot flies I am 
seeing. Apple maggot is my major apple pest but I have found just 2 
sprays with sevin can completely prevent damage. (I often put out red 
sticky traps too.) This year, it wanted to rain every day and there was 
a lot of wind. I only did one sevin spray and never got aroud to putting 
out the sticky traps. I noticed a fly or 2 the other day. Today I hand 
killed 4 or 5 of them on just 2 fairly small trees. There must be a lot 
out there.
My earliest 4 varieties have all been picked and no maggot damage was 
seen. The Red Barons are still green. The Honey Crisps are a month from 
being ripe. The Honeygolds are never ready to pick until into October.
I've never had to spray this late in the season but... My question is, 
should I be spraying now? Will the apple maggots have time to ruin my 
late apples this late in the season? The airport up the road got down to 
33 last night. My yard stays warmer due to being by the lake.

Steve in the Adirondacks