Organic Solution for Apple Tree

There is a beautiful Macintosh apple tree in the yard that is full of apples each year. The problem though is that the apples are always wormy. I've never sprayed, but don't have a clue if I did what to do to keep these apples from becoming wormy. This year I'd like to reap a crop. Any organic suggestions? Donna Marie

Answers:

Organic Solution for Apple Tree

Chances are you are dealing with the larvae of the coddling moth. There are commercial traps available, shaped and colored to look like red apples, but the sticky substances on it may not be organic. More than one generation of these pests will usually reoccur in one growing season. One help is to put corrugated cardboard around the base of the tree and check it weekly, crushing the pupae hiding there. Also hanging some wide mouth jars, they don't need to be large, containing a molasses and water mixture in a one to ten ratio will trap some. There is a botanical insecticide called Rytania that is quite effective, but is hard to find and rather expensive. A local nursery should be able to order it. Beth (02/05/2005)

By ThriftyFun

Organic Solution for Apple Tree

Paint Bordeaux mixture on the trunk in early spring to keep many pests away and use a sticky tape to put a ring round the trunk and stop pests from climbing up (helps for non-flying pests anyway).

Gill
(02/06/2005)

By ThriftyFun

Organic Solution for Apple Tree

Where we live it is apple country. I heard on a local gardening show about apple maggots. It sounds like it could be them or the coddling moth. At his link there is a description of how to get rid of apple maggots using balls and Tanglefoot (a gluey substance available at a garden supply.)

http://www.ciscoe.com/archive/archives.html

Click on "Insects, Birds and Critter" then on "Apple Maggot".

There is a lot of good information on this site for Pacific Northwest as well as other gardeners.

By ThriftyFun

Organic Solution for Apple Tree

I use a mixture of vinegar, sugar and water. Mix together really good. You want it to smell like vinegar, so don't dilute your mixture with too much water. It is like a sweet sour taste if you taste it. Fill a quart jar about 1/3 full and sit it in your trees. When the jar gets low and full for bugs wash it and add fresh mixture to it and put back into the tree. Put it in the tree when the tree just starts to bloom and keep it as long as you have fruit on your trees. This also works in your house when you have fruit flies in your kitchen. Just sit a quart jar where you see them. (02/26/2005)

By Pat