How do you prevent plum curculio?

Insecticide for plum curculio should be sprayed at petal fall and first cover stage for hard fleshed fruits. Two additional applications at seven to ten day intervals are best. Spray for plum curculio in soft fleshed fruits, like peaches and cherries, at the shuck split and first-cover stages.

What eats plum curculio?

Plum curculio. Plum curculio, a snout beetle, is an important pest on stone fruits like plums, cherries, and peaches. Plum curculio is one of the most serious pests of peach trees; they lay eggs within the fruit and both adults and larvae feed on the fruit, causing brown rot of the fruit.

Does the plum curculio fly?

The adult curculio becomes active in the early spring where it flies to trees and feeds on buds, flowers and newly set fruit over a five to six week period.

Does neem oil work on plum curculio?

In addition to deterring feeding insects, neem functions to suppress moulting of certain pest insects including codling moth and plum curculio. Neem oil may also help with powdery mildew, rust, and many other common fungal diseases by boosting the plant’s immune system.

How do you get rid of plum worms?

To control citrus cutworm, which eat plums as well as citrus, apply the bacterial spray Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) during the spring period in which the worms are at their smallest. The worms emerge from eggs in waves, so you’ll likely need to spray Bt more than once during this period.

What is the life cycle of a plum curculio?

When full-grown, the grubs work their way out of the fruit and move into the ground to pupate. Adults emerge about one month later (usually in August) and spend a few days feeding on a fruit. They seek winter shelter in late August-early September. The entire life cycle from egg to adult takes approximately 57 days.

Why do all my plums have worms?

The main cause of maggot damage in plums, damsons and greengages is due to caterpillars produced by the plum fruit moth. In winter female moths lay eggs in trees. The eggs hatch out into caterpillars which feed on fruit in early summer.

What can I spray on my plum tree for bugs?

Once the fruit begins to develop and the husks are pulling back from the fruit, spray plums with spinosad, esfenvalerate, or permethrin to control the twig borers. Spray again with a mix of fungicide, malathion, and sulfur to control leaf curl, plum pocket, scab, and brown rot, and aphids.

Where does plum curculio live?

The plum curculio can be found in apple, nectarine, plum, cherry, peach, apricot, pear and quince. It may also survive on wild plum, hawthorn, and crabapple. It is found most commonly in areas east of the Rocky Mountains and in eastern Canada.

How do you get rid of worms in plums?

How do you tell if a plum has a worm in it?

The dark spots are from the crescent shaped wounds created when the females lay their eggs in the flesh of the fruit, where the worms hatch and tunnel. If you see these spots on a plum, it likely has worms inside.