North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["loneroc" <loneroc@countryspeed.com>]

Howdy,

I am thinning apples now.  Is it imperative to pick up every fruit?

I understand that curculio won't emerge from fallen apples.

There is some codling moth, maybe one in every 30-40 apples have frass. 
Will codling moth emerge from fruits I leave lay or that I toss on the top 
of the compost? Or, since the grubs are fairly small will they croak?

I haven't yet sprayed my first of two imidan sprays. I plan to do so when 
I'm done thinning. I imagine that the apple maggots have started to fly 
around, too.  How long do the larvae have to be in the fruit for them to be 
able to emerge from the apple and dig into the soil for overwintering.

Ideally, my hope is that I can safely leave the damaged fruit on the ground 
without increasing my pest populations.  I do plan to pick up all the drops 
that fall later in the year through the end of the harvest.  By the time the 
apples are big enough to drop on their own from  about August 1 or so onward 
I'm quite sure that at least the apple maggot would be mature enough to bury 
itself into the ground, waiting to annoy me again next year.

Any other thoughts on "danger" posed by drops?

Thanks,

Steve Herje, Lone Rock, WI USDA zone 3/4, where the first usable Vista 
Bellas are dropping.  They're small but have some color and will bake up 
into the first pie of the season.