Hi.

I have bought a pheromone trap for plum moth control. Grateful if anyone could tell me at what stage of tree growth this should be used?

I am in Southern Spain, the trees are in flower now. Presumably the moths activity is also controlled by the weather conditions.

The instructions say from end of May but give no detail other than this. Manufacturers not being any help.

Many thanks

Roger

Since the moths lay their eggs in the flower before the plums form then as your trees are in flower now, I would say get the traps up as soon as possible. It will not do any harm in any case as the pheromone lasts a fair while.

On 2011-02-27, Owdboggy wrote:

RogerKay;913772 Wrote:
Hi.

I have bought a pheromone trap for plum moth control. Grateful if anyone
could tell me at what stage of tree growth this should be used?

I am in Southern Spain, the trees are in flower now. Presumably the
moths activity is also controlled by the weather conditions.

The instructions say from end of May but give no detail other than this.
Manufacturers not being any help.

Many thanks

Roger

Since the moths lay their eggs in the flower before the plums form then
as your trees are in flower now, I would say get the traps up as soon as
possible. It will not do any harm in any case as the pheromone lasts a
fair while.

We don't seem to have any here where we have hard freezs in winter.

SW Idaho, USA.
--
Bud

Hi Bud & Owdboggy. Many thanks for this advice, the trap will be on the tree today! Does this advice also apply to apple trees and codling moths?

Roger

I would say so, yes.

Thanks again Owdboggy. Will do at time of flowering.

The big problem last year was with the apples, must have lost pushing 75% of the crop. Plums were affected but not nearly as much.

We do get frosts here, we are at 760m alt, but anything lower than -4 is exceptional and only down there for a matter of hours. The garden is in full sun so with clear skies it warms up quickly even in Jan/Feb.

What I do not understand is why there are codling & plum moths. Only a handful of trees around and these very spread out. Thousands of olive trees, that can be affected by a similar problem so maybe a connection there.

Regards

Roger

The few numbers of Apples and Plums is probably the reason why you get so much trouble, the moths have nowhere else to go but on to yours.
We still get some damage even with the traps, but all we so is use the damaged fruit for either juicing or purée, cutting out the damage first. That way at least we do get more of our crop.