What is eating my apples?
by
Vickie G
+4
We have a red delicious apple tree. This is it's 4th summer. It full of apples just starting to turn red. The 1st year it only produced 4 perfect apples. The next two years it produced a large number of apples but they fell off before they matured. We were told it was because some sort of moth laying it's eggs in the blossoms. The eggs turn into worms that mature inside the apple, then eat their way out. We were told to spray the tree when it is starting to bloom. We did this and now have large number of apples about the size of tennis balls. This one fell off so I cut it open to find it rotten inside. I am hoping we have a few good ones. Any ideas we can try to assure a good harvest?
This is how it looks on the outside. There is another hole by the stem.
This is the inside. You can see there are two exit routes.
4 answers
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The sad truth is that it is almost impossible to get a harvest of apples (or pears or peaches) if you don't have an ongoing spray program. For what to apply when, see this from Colorado State: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02800.html
Douglas Hunt
on Aug 05, 2014
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Not sure what has burrowed into your apples, but eeeew yuk!
Carole
on Aug 05, 2014
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This year my apple trees, plum trees and peach trees did very poorly. The long harsh winter, dry spring and too wet summer has caused all kinds of issues. The plums and apples all blew off before they ripened due to a huge wind/thunderstorm. And the peaches appear to be suffering from some kind of blight with one tree dying completely and the other has spots on most of the fruit with withering leaves. Unfortunately, when we bought this house a 18 months ago, the fruit trees had been negleted for YEARS so we didn't have much to work with - too tall to pick the fruit before the birds got to them, bugs, worms, ants…piles of dead & rotten fruit under all the trees, grape vines intertwined into the trees - just a total mess. I might be able to save one or two but I think the rest have to go due to disease etc. So sad :( I think I got a handfull of cherries, three plums and I might get a handfull or two of peaches (last year I got only 3 edible ones).
Jennifer G
on Aug 06, 2014
- See 1 previous
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We have earwigs that do that to our apples. Actually cut into one and cut the earwig in half. Our trees are ancient and think the bugs love old growth trees, as they haven't been trimmed in years. We just purchased the land and property, so hopefully this spring we can do some pruning.
Liz
on Nov 09, 2016
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