I have a small number of plum trees in the garden. In one in
particular (Marjorie's seedling) something like a quarter of the fruit
had larvae inside. I didn't stop to ask what they were larvae of.

I would imagine that the eggs were laid either in the flower or
possibly directly into the developing fruit. Which is most likely?

How can I prevent or minimise this next year? I do not want to harm
the useful insect brigade (eg bees) but I do want to discourage the
antisocial behaviour of the egg layers. Any suggestions please?

Thanks

Merlin

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:16:16 +0200, Merlin
wrote:

I have a small number of plum trees in the garden. In one in
particular (Marjorie's seedling) something like a quarter of the fruit
had larvae inside. I didn't stop to ask what they were larvae of.
... How can I prevent or minimise this next year? I do not want to harm
the useful insect brigade (eg bees) but I do want to discourage the
antisocial behaviour of the egg layers. Any suggestions please?

Once upon a time, way back when I was a kid (and we walked two miles to
school every day through blinding snowstorms, uphill both ways of
course...), whenever we ate apples from my grandfather's trees, we just
knew we had to watch out for worms. But he had so many apples (from only
two trees) that there just wasn't any real reason to use insecticides -
with more than enough apples already, using insecticides was simply an
unnecessary expense. Besides, it taught us kids to be observant ;-)

Do your trees produce enough un-wormed plums to meet your needs? (fresh
eating, cooked-plum types of desserts, presents for friends and neighbors
who don't have plum trees, etc.) If so, it's not much work to either cut
out the bad spots or just leave the wormy plums out as presents for the
birds.

cheers,

Marj
--
Mediterranean Garden Advice and Shop: http://stores.tiefert.com/garden/
Also: http://www.mindspring.com/~mtiefert/...gardening.html
In Sunset zone 14-mild

In article , Merlin
writes

How can I prevent or minimise this next year? I do not want to harm
the useful insect brigade (eg bees) but I do want to discourage the
antisocial behaviour of the egg layers. Any suggestions please?


I'm not sure if the larvae are those of the most common moth that causes
problems for plums- can't remember its name - plum saw fly moth?

For that and the equivalent for apples, I've used pheromone traps this
year - and have a fantastic crop of unaffected plums (apart from a few
over ripe rotten ones and a bit of wasp damage. The apples collected so
far also seem pretty unaffected.

The "helpful" insects aren't afected by this method

--
regards andyw