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Grubs in apples are scary and revolting – particularly if you only find half a grub, right?
There’s the visceral disgust of biting into an apple and finding that something is living inside. But it also downgrades the quality of the fruit.
What’s the problem with Codling Moth?
Apples that have been infected with Codling moth are much less usable and less valuable for all these reasons:
- The apples go bad quickly.
- Infected apples aren’t suitable for long-term storage.
- They’re more likely to be attacked by diseases (e.g., rots) and even other pests;
- They can’t be sold commercially if infected.
- They look bad, so you don’t want to share them with friends and family.
- Having to cut the affected part out before cooking or eating is very wasteful.
If the grubs have left the apple, this can be even worse. It tells you that the grubs were able to complete their life cycle and go on to breed again, perpetuating your Codling moth problem and increasing their population.
Codling moth action plan
Codling moth is one of the more challenging pests that fruit growers have to deal with. But don’t despair, there is a way!
Here’s our 6-step plan for preventing and managing them:
- First, find out whether Codling moths are a problem in your area. If you already have them in your apples, this one’s a no-brainer, but if you’re new to fruit growing, you may need to ask around other fruit growers in your area to find out if it’s something you need to be prepared for.
- Learn how to identify them. You won’t usually notice the moths (they’re fairly inconspicuous), but they leave obvious calling cards on the fruit, as you can see in the picture above.
- Understand their life cycle—good organic pest management depends on knowing your enemy. Every pest (and every disease, for that matter) has at least one weak point in its life-cycle when it’s easy (or at least possible) to intervene. The aim is to interrupt their life cycle. You want to reduce the size of the population and to reduce or prevent the damage they do. Over time, you’ll hopefully eradicate the problem.
- Familiarise yourself with the many tools you can use against Codling moth. This includes trapping, banding, pheromone ties, chickens, predator insects, pruning, and more.
- Decide which one(s) will work best for you, which will depend on the size of your garden, your capacity, and your budget. For example:
- Trapping (with low-cost cardboard traps) is a no-brainer for all gardeners.
- Chickens are a wonderful preventive aid if you can confine them around your fruit trees at the right times.
- Mating disruption with pheromone ties needs at least 1 ha to be effective (maybe you could get together with your neighbours?).
- Releasing predator insects can be costly, but it can help to get on top of an out-of-control situation.
- Write your own Codling Moth Plan, and conquer the Codling moth!
If you have an apple tree, you have an obligation to manage codling moth
If you already have Codling moth in your apples and are not taking active steps to control them, they’re likely to get worse. This is a problem not only for you and your apples, but unfortunately, you could also be causing a problem for your neighbours.
Codling moths don’t respect fences. If your apple tree becomes infected and you don’t manage it well, you could become the centre for an outbreak for your whole neighbourhood—not a way to make yourself popular with the neighbours!
Because codling moth completes most of its life cycle inside the apple, or hidden in the soil or in cracks in the bark, it’s not easy for predators to find them.
Unless you intervene to stack the odds against them, in unmanaged apple trees the problem tends to grow, so ignore them at your peril!
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We layered cardboard beneath each tree with straw on top and painted the trunks with Hydrated Lime. Should we remove the cardboard now to check for larvae?
Hi Julie, now would be a good time to check for larvae as they will be getting ready to emerge soon.
Hi Hugh, I have an apple tree which has Codling moth. As I was not here in Tasmania until July this year, I did not take the precautions. Is it too late for me to do anything now?
Thank you, Krishnee Hennessy
Hi Krishnee, it’s not too late – definitely worth adding a cardboard/hessian band and working on suppression mulching right away might help! And then monitor your tree for the signs throughout these warmer months.
Good luck, Meg – Grow Great Fruit team.
Hi I tried cardboards bands on my trees and they didn’t seem to work. I got frustrated and left them. Is it too late to do something to save any fruit? Thanks
It’s not too late (unless you’re in the northern hemisphere and already have fruit?) Did you try the cardboard bands last season? Depending on the time of year, there are still lots of things you can do throughout the year to reduce populations, e.g. allowing chickens to have a good peck under the trees as the moths emerge from the pupae in spring is a great one. And, the cardboard or hessian bands do usually need to be dealt with every few weeks, so perhaps increasing the frequency that you replace them next time? They’re mainly useful to create pupation sites for the larvae throughout the season, and they can make a big difference! Good luck, Meg – Grow Great Fruit team.
We moved to a new house last year. The old apple tree (not sure what type) had lots of almost pear-shaped fruit which had dry, sour tasting flesh. My husband pruned the tree in the autumn and this year we have masses of shiny/rosy fruit. UNFORTUNATELY the fruit is falling off the tree with either a small hole bitten in the flesh with a rotten centre or it falls from the tree already half rotten. We are really disappointed. There is a plum tree about 20 yards away and it too had this problem last year. ( mildew on the skin and moth within.) It was heavily pruned and only had a single fruit on it this year-which went rotten, even though we treated the surrounding soil with Jeyes fluid several times I am wondering if the moths have come to the apple tree because I planted a mass of daffodil bulbs under it’s spread. These put on a great show but I am prepared to dig them up if it means we get a good harvest of apples. Please advise. Many thanks. Linda.
Hi Linda, not quite sure what Jeyes fluid is in this instance – can you explain that treatment? And, it’s unlikely that the daffodils would be making the problems too much worse, especially if you follow some of the steps we outline in the blog above. In the fruit that was damaged, did you actually identify what was causing the problem (e.g. have you seen a coddling moth larvae?). Or, could there be something else going on? Best of luck, Meg – GGF team.