Codling Moth Biology and Ecology

Presentation by Peter McGhee, Ph.D., Pacific Biocontrol.

[@oersson]

This is such an excellent presentation, I've watched it several times! I'm a home orchardist in Portland OR who has been vexed by this wily insect. We have a dozen or so apples and half dozen pears with significant fruit damage despite excellent orchard hygiene and trapping with molasses traps which do catch quite a few moths. I've got three questions: 1. a graph in the middle of the video shows female activity starting at 3pm and lasting for several hours. The summary at the end, however, says activity starts around dusk and lasts for several hours. This is a critical difference! We've been told one local farmer has successfully used bug zappers to attract and destroy the moths, presumably starting at dusk when the light would attract moths. I doubt this would work at 3pm when ambient daylight is still very high. We've considered trying bug zappers programmed to start at dusk and kept on for several hours. Are you familiar with any studies on this idea? 2. The video mentions that female activity stops during days when there is 1/10th inch of rain. Could this also be a possible control by irrigating the trees by sprinkling each tree, especially daily just after bloom ends? That time of year in Portland tends to be wet anyway but not consistently daily. I realize this might have unintended consequences in terms of fungal diseases due to higher humidity. Again, has anyone studied this as a possible means of control? Especially during the critical first generation which sets the stage for subsequent infestations. 3. It appears most overwintering occurs in the duff under the trees. Could application of a thick layer of mulch, like wood chips, smother the hibernaculams? Could running chickens in the orchard also be an effective means of destroying overwintering hibernaculams? Thanks again for this presentation. It is one of the best on codling moths I have seen!