CODLING moth is a common pest in apples, pears and sometimes quinces and crabapples.
This is the insect that is the worm in the apple you bite into.
Codling moths spend their winter as a larva or caterpillar, in a cocoon under the bark, and in early October they pupate in the cocoon to form an adult or moth and start to emerge.
These adults can move over the leaves as they lay eggs.
The eggs hatch in 10 to 14 days and the young caterpillars start to bore into fruit and eat their way into the apple core.
Once they are fully mature they eat their way out of the apple and move down the tree, preparing to find a spot and form a cocoon to hibernate until the end of winter.
There are several ways in which you can help to control codling moth.
Generally, if you want to spray, you should do so after the flower petals fall.
With most chemicals, this would be every 14 to 21 days, right through until a few weeks before harvest.
Recommended products include Lebaycid and Carbaryl.
There are alternatives to spraying.
Wrap the tree with corrugated cardboard so that you trap the larvae before winter.
Check the cardboard regularly and remove any that have built their cocoons on it.
This will reduce the numbers for the following season.
Don't leave old fruit on the tree or the ground.
Cleaning these up and removing them is important in reducing numbers of codling moth.
Pull off old, flaky bark from the trunk, around branch joints and old litter from around the tree base, as these can all be over-wintering sites for the adult caterpillars.
In recent times, pheromone traps have been used to trap the adult moths.
A hormone that attracts the moth is impregnated into a sticky sheet, which is hung in a protective corflute cover on the tree.
Instead of heading towards leaves and fruit, the moth is attracted to the trap and becomes stuck on the sticky pheromone material, thus reducing the number that lay eggs.
These codling moth traps will cover five to six trees and come with enough pheromone sheets to last a season.
If you find really high numbers of moths stuck on the sheet, then it is an indication that you need to start a spraying program.
