One website said to not have the apples touching each other on the tree. Does anyone think that's helpful? In other words, THIN the apple tree. Any thoughts? (Obviously thinning isn't enough to battle codling moth but is it necessary or helpful?)
I've tried thinning our apple tree (the one in the video) with the idea that the remaining apples will get bigger. It didn't seem to make a big difference. The tree does a pretty good job of dropping apples as it goes along. If you were going to put a paper bag around each apple you saved from a bunch (like some organic farms do) then it would make sense. But that's way too much work for me and my one tree in my backyard. The more apples that are on the tree, the more to share with various critters: Codling Moth, Birds, etc. while still leaving some for you. I just try to stay ahead of the game by picking the ones that look ripe. If they have any kind of infestation, I put them in the green waste bin. Once a day I get the ones that have fallen on the ground and putting them in the green bin for composting by the recycling company. Sometimes the ones that fall land softly on another plant and perfectly good to eat.
The insect spray worked a lot better for me. The past few years, I've just used the red apples with sticky stuff on it and while I'm sure it helped some, we still got lots of infected apples. This year we had a bumper crop of apples free of the codling moth larvae. However, it's only the first year I've used it. I'll post a follow-up video next year to see if it keeps working. I did use a pheromone sticky trap a number of years ago. Those are very effective, but they are also expensive ($10 each if I recall) and you have to keep replacing them as they get saturated with bugs. Because the Spinosad spray is concentrated, I used very little this season. Hopefully it won't lose its potency over a few years.
One website said to not have the apples touching each other on the tree. Does anyone think that's helpful? In other words, THIN the apple tree. Any thoughts? (Obviously thinning isn't enough to battle codling moth but is it necessary or helpful?)
I've tried thinning our apple tree (the one in the video) with the idea that the remaining apples will get bigger. It didn't seem to make a big difference.
The tree does a pretty good job of dropping apples as it goes along.
If you were going to put a paper bag around each apple you saved from a bunch (like some organic farms do) then it would make sense.
But that's way too much work for me and my one tree in my backyard.
The more apples that are on the tree, the more to share with various critters: Codling Moth, Birds, etc. while still leaving some for you.
I just try to stay ahead of the game by picking the ones that look ripe.
If they have any kind of infestation, I put them in the green waste bin.
Once a day I get the ones that have fallen on the ground and putting them in the green bin for composting by the recycling company.
Sometimes the ones that fall land softly on another plant and perfectly good to eat.
Which works better for codling moth- Monterey Garden Insect Spray or the Red Apples with sticky traps?
The insect spray worked a lot better for me. The past few years, I've just used the red apples with sticky stuff on it and while I'm sure it helped some, we still got lots of infected apples. This year we had a bumper crop of apples free of the codling moth larvae. However, it's only the first year I've used it. I'll post a follow-up video next year to see if it keeps working.
I did use a pheromone sticky trap a number of years ago. Those are very effective, but they are also expensive ($10 each if I recall) and you have to keep replacing them as they get saturated with bugs. Because the Spinosad spray is concentrated, I used very little this season. Hopefully it won't lose its potency over a few years.