Common Tree Fruit Insects

Apple, Blueberry and Cherry Maggots

Most of us love fruits because we consider fruit to be very healthy. Insects also consider the same thing since they feed on some fruits for survival. Fruit flies are usually seen coming out from the soil. The Cherry maggot usually comes out during the first week of the month of June and the Apple Maggot and blueberry maggot are seen coming out on the months of July. The female maggots undergo certain stage before they proceed into mating stage and laying eggs follow. When the maggots lay eggs they usually feed on the honeydew of the plans and some leaves extracts to help them and also for their eggs to develop well. There are some traps placed by some fruit growers, they call it yellow sticky traps so that the flies that goes near the fruits won’t harm the fruit they are infesting. These traps sometimes possess the scent of the aphid honeydew so more insects are being drawn to it. It is advised that the traps should be cleaned weekly. They also said that the Apple maggots provide great damage during summer time until the harvest period, in preventing apple maggots to attack use field-microscopes to detect the eggs after the mating period. The use of trap is the best option as mentioned in this article and it has proven to have 95 percent effectiveness in controlling apple maggots.

Tarnished Plant Bug

The next fruit insects mentioned is the Tarnished Plant bug since this is very common and can be found in our backyard trees. You will see the damaged caused by tarnished plant bugs when you see some spot in the fruit. Handy field-microscopes can see this damage. If you can see a lot of them in your tree you should immediately seek help to control and to stop the damage. The affected fruit usually shows deformity. Before this thing happens the trap that is advised is the UV reflecting white sticky trap because the insects can mistake this trap to be a large petal so they are easily attracted. One trap on each tree would be enough, however for big trees you need to provide at least 2 of these traps. The traps can be removed on the month of June because at this time the fruit is already developing and the tarnished plant bugs don’t usually attack on this time.

Redbanded Leafroller

The next insects that can also be seen by Field-Microscopes are the redbanded leafrollers, these insects are usually more concern on the plant itself than on the fruits. They are usually in large numbers and the traps are advisable during the months of April. The other function of the trap is also to determine if the insect is capable of flying.

Oriental Fruit Moth

For those who grow peaches, you should be aware of the Oriental fruit moth because they feed on peaches and apples as well. The first attacks of these insects are usually in the month of May and the second attack is in July. The larvae of Oriental Fruit moth feed inside the fruit itself and thus creating wormy fruit products. And the third attack is during August. To prevent this to happen we have to set traps for mass trapping and for worst case scenario we have no choice but to use chemicals or pesticides for best insect control. The traps are only used to know the three stages of attacks but it will not really stop the attack. The damage can be seen closely if you have field-microscopes with you.

Peachtree Borer

The last insect mentioned in this article is the Peachtree Borer. They are commonly found on peach tree and cherry trees. These insects resemble wasps and they also look like mosquitoes. You can only see the difference when you view them under field-microscopes. The damage that is caused by Peachtree borers is on the inner bark of the tree because their larvae feed on this. The best prevention mentioned was the use of traps as well some trunk sprays to prevent the adult insects in laying eggs.