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Peaches and Nectarines
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Oriental fruit moth (Cydia molesta)
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Pest description:
The adult is a small charcoal-coloured; nondescript; mottled moth about 6-7 mm long and with a wingspan of about 15 mm. Fine bands of light and dark lines on the wings give it a mottled appearance. Its wings are held roof-like over its body. Eggs are flat, oval and whitish, and are laid singly on twigs or the undersides of leaves near growing terminals. Newly hatched larvae are 1.5 mm long and are cream coloured with a black head. Older larvae have a brown head capsule, are slightly pink, and grow to about 9-13 mm long.
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Typical Damage:
Infested shoots and terminal leaves wilt and bend over After larval emergence, the entire tip and its leaves dry up, and bend down even further. This injury is known as "flagging." Flagging injury stimulates lateral growth below the point of injury. This can inhibit good scaffold formation in young trees, and provides wound sites for pathogens. Crooked branches may also result from terminal feeding. Terminal tunnelling may also appear in apple beginning in late May, and may be confused with early twig blight; the twig is hollowed and filled with frass. Fruit injury is more critical than terminal flagging, and may occur either early in the season on young fruit, or later after pit hardening to final swell. Injury is rarely seen on young or green fruit in sprayed blocks, but may still be found at harvest. Larvae will usually enter the fruit from the stem end, and where two fruit touch each other on the tree. Later broods will enter anywhere on the fruit. Gum and frass may be exuded from the wound area as the larva bores into the fruit. As the gum ages, a sooty mould may form on it, turning the entire wound area black. Larvae may occasionally enter fruit through the inside of the stem, and therefore leave no wound area except for a small mark at the stem end of the picked fruit.
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Dosage Table
15 ml / 100 litre water
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Apply one or more of the following high volume sprays with a maximum of 3 sprays per season. Sprays should be applied between 278 and 333 degree days after each biofix. The biofix is a term used to describe the start of each moth generation and is the date on which the first sustained emergence of moths in each generation is recorded in pheromone traps (Consult your advisor if in doubt concerning the determination of the biofix). In case of a very high first generation moth flight two sprays are recommended. The first spray should be applied at 200 degree days and the second spray applied 10 to 14 days later. Monitor traps every two days until the biofix of the first generation has been determined and weekly thereafter. As each successive moth flight starts to decrease, monitor traps every two days until the start of the next flight, in order to accurately pinpoint biofix and weekly thereafter. Sprays applied for the control of Oriental fruit moth (OFM) will contribute to the control of green peach aphid (Myzus persicae). The Calypso 480 SC applications form part of an OFM control programme and further applications should be carried out with other insecticides registered against OFM.
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