Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Plum moths
My ninety year old neighbour to whom I gave some runner beans invited me to
help myself to the victoria plums in her garden which she is now unable to harvest. I picked a nice lot and she had most. They looked super. I washed one and bit into it and there was this little pink caterpillar sitting in its excrement winking at me. It really turned my stomach! I cut the rest in halves and they were all inhabited! I'm glad my wife didn't suggest plum jam!! The RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening details the use some nasty sounding chemical sprays twice. It also says that the use of pheremone traps in late spring to reduce the males enables more accurately timed sprays. It adds, if you'll forgive my paraphrasing, that the use of traps alone can reduce the population copulation and result in more maggot free plums. Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? Thanks Geoff |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:12:11 +0000, Geoff wrote:
My ninety year old neighbour to whom I gave some runner beans invited me to help myself to the victoria plums in her garden which she is now unable to harvest. I picked a nice lot and she had most. They looked super. I washed one and bit into it and there was this little pink caterpillar sitting in its excrement winking at me. It really turned my stomach! I cut the rest in halves and they were all inhabited! I'm glad my wife didn't suggest plum jam!! The RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening details the use some nasty sounding chemical sprays twice. It also says that the use of pheremone traps in late spring to reduce the males enables more accurately timed sprays. It adds, if you'll forgive my paraphrasing, that the use of traps alone can reduce the population copulation and result in more maggot free plums. Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? No, but I'm listening with interest. Victorias seem especially vulnerable. Our Czar has fruited well (although we had to fight the wasps for most of the fruit). Our Gage is having a very good year and doesn't seem to be troubled by parasites. Our Victoria is bowed down by the weight of fruit, but most of it seems to have been 'got at'. I have never (so far) sprayed anything but if there is something which can get a clean crop of Victorias I might be open to suggestion. Turning to the dark side. Dave R |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
In article , David W.E.
Roberts writes On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:12:11 +0000, Geoff wrote: Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? No, but I'm listening with interest. Last year, I used the pheromone trap and had virtually no saw fly infestation at all. This year, one of the Vics is fully laden - and most of the plums have maggots in them I didn't use the pheromone trap this year... Might not be a fully valid selection - but I'll be using the pheromone trap again next year. I also use the codling moth pheromone trap for the apples which seems to work too - although luckily, I haven't tested it by not using it this year HTH -- regards andyw |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? Last year, I used the pheromone trap and had virtually no saw fly infestation at all. This year, one of the Vics is fully laden - and most of the plums have maggots in them I didn't use the pheromone trap this year... Fair enough and thanks for answering, but what particular make of trap(s) did you use please? Have you tried using two pheromones in one trap? If so, was it effective? Geoff |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
"Geoff" wrote in message ... Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? Last year, I used the pheromone trap and had virtually no saw fly infestation at all. This year, one of the Vics is fully laden - and most of the plums have maggots in them I didn't use the pheromone trap this year... Fair enough and thanks for answering, but what particular make of trap(s) did you use please? Have you tried using two pheromones in one trap? If so, was it effective? Geoff Geoff We had a lot of rotting plums last year which we assume were down to codling moths, so we started using Agralan brand pheromone traps at at the end of June (one pheromone capsule at a time) - last year we were losing 9 out of 10 plums, now it's only 1 in 10. We assume it is the traps, but it could always be the weather.... Mike |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"Geoff" wrote in message ... My ninety year old neighbour to whom I gave some runner beans invited me to help myself to the victoria plums in her garden which she is now unable to harvest. I picked a nice lot and she had most. They looked super. I washed one and bit into it and there was this little pink caterpillar sitting in its excrement winking at me. It really turned my stomach! I cut the rest in halves and they were all inhabited! I'm glad my wife didn't suggest plum jam!! The RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening details the use some nasty sounding chemical sprays twice. It also says that the use of pheremone traps in late spring to reduce the males enables more accurately timed sprays. It adds, if you'll forgive my paraphrasing, that the use of traps alone can reduce the population copulation and result in more maggot free plums. Does anybody have experience in dealing with plum moths? Can anybody recommend the best traps for me to use next year on my now established plum and gage trees? Thanks Geoff Geoff - we were losing about 9 out of 10 plums to moths last year, and were getting seriously bothered by the wasps attracted by the rotting fruit. We put an Agralan brand pheromone trap in place in june, and so far we are only losing about 1 in 10 and there are no wasps !. Of course, it could be the weather. Mike |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
In article , Geoff
writes Pheromone traps... Fair enough and thanks for answering, but what particular make of trap(s) did you use please? Have you tried using two pheromones in one trap? If so, was it effective? Can't recall the make - just whatever the shed sold. I'll try and see if I've got any packaging left later this evening. It comes as a "flatpack" stiff green, corrugated plastic tent. Open it up, put the sticky board in it, put the pheromone capsule in it and hang it in the tree. (I think one trap would do 3-4 trees in a reasonably close location. Maybe more, I don't know.) I think it describes the sort of moths it should be catching - so you can see if it is working as the season goes on. I think it says to put them up around flowering - but mine went up just after the small fruitlets have formed. It might be possible to get refills, but I just bought separate traps for plum sawfly and apple codling moth. They weren't too expensive. -- regards andyw |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
The moths, the moths | Permaculture | |||
Moths | United Kingdom | |||
Surviving a plague of moths | United Kingdom | |||
Hawk Moths, Tomato Hornworms, and Nightshade | Edible Gardening | |||
moths | United Kingdom |