Codling Moth Control
One of the main pests on apple trees is Codling moth, or the caterpillars of the moth which tunnel into the fruits as they grow.
The damage caused by the burrowing is normally discovered in the summer or when the fruits are picked in autumn, but now is the time to prevent damage this summer.
The moth lays its egg on the fruitlets after blossom drop in late spring and early summer and the small caterpillars start burrowing into the fruits where they cause a great deal of damage.
To reduce the damage caused by the moths you can hang Codling moth traps into your apple trees now.
Inside the triangular trap is a sticky base to which you position a small phial containing the pheromone (hormones of the female moth) to attract the male moths.
When they enter the trap to investigate the scent, they stick to the base of the trap. The idea is if the male moths are trapped, the females can't be fertilised and so the breeding cycle is broken.
Codling moth traps only give partial control because many of the moths will already have mated before they enter the trap in search of more females.
For total control, when you start to catch the small brown moths in the trap it indicates that the moths are active and you can spray you fruit trees with an insecticide to kill the caterpillars as they hatch.
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