Some years ago I noticed a letter in "Fine Gardening" which said that
the writer had controlled codling moth in a garden planting of apples by
putting in the trees plastic jugs with small openings (openings pointed
horizontal or down to prevent dilution by rain, and alignment with
light) and putting in the jugs a solution which would ferment (maybe
molasses and apple juice, I forget the details). The moths went in but
not out. I haven't tried it, not having any apple trees these days.
Then there is planting to provide hosts for predators and parasites of
apple pest insects. Russian peasants used to plant dill and buckwheat in
their orchards for this purpose.
read in a Canadian entomological journal of a study by scientists in
the northeastern U.S. who found that Ilex verticillata (common
winterberry, a shrub which likes moist or wet soil, can take some
shade), I think I. laevigata (smooth winterberry, greater tolerance to
drier soil) and I. glabra (inkberry, sandy or peaty soil, prefers sun)
were alternate hosts for a predator of apple maggot (apple fruit fly,
related to cherry fruit fly) and their presence was associated with
reduced numbers of apple maggot. I think I. opaca (tree to 50 feet,
moist soil, shade) also worked but I am not sure.
Scientists in California found that wild blackberry provided an
alternate host for a predator of a grape pest (sorry, can't recall the
details offhand).
K. Leius, a Canadian entomologist found in the 1960s that in some
abandoned orchards in Ontario which he studied, a rich orchard floor
flora with many flowering plants was associated with reduced codling
moth infestation.
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