在华盛顿西部,我们的苹果树有两个主要的敌人:溺爱的飞蛾和苹果蛆。苹果蛆虽然会让人讨厌(它们不会毁了苹果),但会让整个苹果变得苦涩,无法使用,甚至对苹果酒也是如此。Yet some of the easy solutions for apple maggots don’t protect from codling moth.
The good news is, there are organic, chemical-free methods for keeping your trees safe, including the paper bag method and the legging method.
The Bagging and Legging Methods
The legging method uses stockings or nylons, tied over and covering your apples completely. It’s quite effective against apple maggots, but not against codling moths. To be fully effective against codling moths, you need to spray the stockings withkaolin clayafter you’ve covered the apples with them. Kaolin clay also needs to be reapplied every week or two depending on rain (nope – not happening).
We recommend the paper bag method. The paper bag method has several pros and cons.
Pros:
- Is a one-step process.
- Keeps out both codling moths and apple maggots.
- Uses affordable materials.
- Prevents sunburn on apples.
- Thanks to thinning of fruit before bagging, can result in larger apples.
Cons:
- Can be difficult to apply if the paper bag is too thick.
- 不能防止耳朵虫,耳朵虫会在袋子上戳洞,让蛀虫进来。
- Is time-consuming.
- Doesn’t work with short-stemmed varieties of apples.
- Red apples may not see full color development.
When To Start
Codling moths and apple maggots can infest your apples a few weeks after they bloom, so apply paper bags before these insects can do much damage to your trees.
We recommend bagging your apples when they’re between ½ to an inch in diameter. That should be about four to six weeks after they bloom.
Step One: Thin The Fruit
Before you begin to bag your apples, you need to thin out the trees in anticipation of June drop. If you’re unfamiliar with June drop, it’s when apples fall before harvest because there were too many blooms growing from the same stem. This can lead to a big mess for you and is a buffet for hungry herbivores or insects who come across your orchard.
Make a few passes around your tree and remove any extra apples from clusters. Leave the biggest ones on the tree. This is also a good time to see if any codling moths or apple maggots have already infested some of your fruit.
至于那些被丢弃的苹果呢?Don’t leave them on the ground or they may stillattract maggots和飞蛾。把它们添加到你的堆肥中,或者喂给鸡或其他牲畜。
Step Two: Add The Bags And Ties
For bagging apple trees, one good option is usingsmall to medium paper bagsandsimple paper twist ties.
First, you’ll want to prep your bags. As you can guess, these bags weren’t made specifically for fitting around apple stems. Since you don’t want any space between the bag and the apple stem, the large opening can make bagging apples a little tricky and slow.
To speed things up, take an assembly line approach. Take the bulk of your bags and start bunching up the openings. Afterwards, take your twist ties and separate them along their perforated edges if they haven’t been already.
现在,您可以将袋子和领带添加到苹果树上了。袋子应该完全盖住果实,并绑在茎干上。不要在苹果上挂太多的叶子和树枝,尽管在这里或那里挂一片叶子也是可以的。
The most important part of apple bagging is to attach your ties tightly. The more space between the folds of the bag and the stem, the easier it will be for apple maggots and codling moths to infest your fruit.
Step Three: Additional Prevention
If you want to be extra cautious,there are other chemical-free methods that can reduce the risk of codling moths and apple maggots.
Companion Plants For Apples
When it comes to reducing pests, companion plants can either attract predators to those apple-destroying insects or can confuse the senses of those bugs.Parsnipis particularly effective against codling moths.
Other reportedly effective companion plants for apples include:
- Nasturtiumswhichrepel codling moths and morewhen planted around the base of your fruit trees
- Hyssop, whichattract beneficial insects
- Sage, which deters codling moths with itshigh camphor content
- Tansy, which also boasts a high camphor content (be careful with tansy, as it’s toxic when eaten)
- Chives, which help apple scab but not moths and maggots
Codling Moth Traps
In the rainy Pacific Northwest, tent-shapedhanging codling moths trapsare most effective when put out by the end of March or earlier. Unfortunately, traps alone are not effective at keeping overall pest populations down.
Apple Maggot Traps & Prevention
The most popularapple maggot trapsalso hang from your trees, but are red and spherical rather than tent-shaped. These spheres are then covered with tanglefoot. An additional benefit of apple maggot traps is that they’re reusable from year-to-year. These traps are most effective when placed a week or two before buds break in early spring and should be left out until harvest.
You can also enlist somehungry chickens to help you reduce your pest problem. Run a few chickens underneath your trees to eat any apple maggots that may have dropped out of apples from late June to October, and you’ll see fewer maggots next season.
Step Four: Monitor Your Apples
你需要监测袋装苹果的两件事是耳朵虫和成熟度。
As we mentioned earlier, paper bags don’t protect against earworms. The good thing about earworms is that they eat codling moths. The bad thing about them is that when they eat a hole in your bag, they let more codling moths in. Check weekly to ensure that there are no holes in your bags. If there are, they were likely caused by earworms, and you’ll need to rebag those apples.
Since you won’t get your usual visual clues, you’ll also need to monitor your apples for ripeness. As you get close to harvest, remove a bag or two from your apples. You can tell ripeness by color, ease of removal from your trees, brownness of seeds, and flavor. If the apples aren’t ready yet, check again in a few days.
Again, red varieties of apples won’t gain their full color if they’re bagged, so you may want to remove your bags one to two weeks before you plan on harvesting your apples. Removing the bags early may allow codling moths and apple maggots to infest your apples before they can be picked. If the red color isn’t important to you, you can leave those bags on until the apples are harvested.
More Great Codling Moth Resources:
Marianne Russsays
Great post!!
Cathysays
How do the twist ties and paper bags go throughout the season? Do they last or fall off, tip (due to wind, rain, etc) and need replacing?