Plum fruit moth
(Grapholitha funebrana)
Regularly occurring in Europe, multivoltine pest. The dry, warm weather is in favour of its proliferation.
Food plant:
Primarily plum, mirabelle plum, greengage, sometimes blackthorn, sour cherry, cherry, peach, walnut, apple
Detriment:
The caterpillar harms the fruit. An opening with the size of a pinhead from chewing indicates the intrusion of the caterpillar. The fruit may gum at these places. The infected, mostly spotty fruit falls earlier.
Lifestyle:
The young larvae winter in pods woven in the cracks of the tree barks. The swarming of the first generation usually starts at the end of April. The second generation starts swarming from the end of June, the third one from the end of July. These two latter swarms may merge together. The moths fly at dawn and in the mornings, they lay their eggs on to the fruits.
Recommended protection:
It is recommended to start the protection within three weeks of the start of swarming, and 7-10 days of mass swarming, when mass hatching of the larvae takes place. Chemical protection is the most effective at the time of peak swarming and mass hatching.
Pheromone trap placement:
Trap placement is recommended from the end of April. Replace the dispenser and the sticky boards in every 6-7 weeks, preferably not around the time of peak swarming.
Check the traps twice a week. Count the number of moths captured in the particular period and note the number. The swarming dynamics are visible from the data and the time of intervention is definable. Should the trap capture too few moths, even at peak swarming time, it refers to low infection. In this case the moths can be captured by placing some further traps in smaller gardens and the population can be controlled without spraying, so that we can preserve our environment.
Empirical swarming curve of the plum fruit moth in Central-Europe:
The introduced empirical swarming curve was prepared by using data of many years, however the swarming may be different depending on the weather and the microclimate of the arable land, therefore the thorough observation of swarming is also important.