D4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 14,
UNIVERSITY PARK
The typical Pennsylvania
weather that we’ve been
having, with its un
predictable shifts from cold
winds and rain to
sweltenngly hot and humid
days, plays an important
part in controlling the ac
tivities of the plum curculio.
This insect is an injurious
pest in plum, apple, peach,
and cherry orchards
throughout Pennsylvania,
says Robert Tetrault, Penn
State Extension en
tomologist.
The first curculios make
their grand entrance in
apple orchards right about
the time of apple blossom
festivities, according to
Tetrault.
Dressed in a dark brown
costume with whitish pat
ches and four humps on its
back, the beetle is about V*
inch long.
This beetle could be
nicknamed Pinochio,
because one third of its total
body length is ‘nose’. Its long
snout projects forward and
downward from the head.
How does the weather
harness this bug’s ac
tivities? It seems that
periods of cool, rainy
weather with maximum
temperatures below 70
degrees Farenheit are not
ideal for curculio activity.
This bug begins to bus' le
when the first warm period
arrives, generally right after
the petals fall from the trees,
and when the maximum
temperature reaches 75
degrees Farenheit or higher.
The adult curcuhos can
usually be found in orchards
for 5-7 weeks, and are
generally more abundant on
fruit trees next to woods,
fence rows and trashy fields.
Small, pearly-white eggs,
which hatch m 7 days, are
laid singly by the female
curculio in a small cavity
underneath the skin of the
young fruit.
After the week long in
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Control plum curculio in orchards
cubation, the yellowish
white larva poke their brown
heads toward the center of
the fruit. There they begin to
burrow large irregular
cavities.
After gorging themselves
at the fnuts’s expense for 16
days, the larva reach
maturity. At this point, the
V* inch long pest flees its host
and enters the soil where it is
transformed into an adult
curculio.
The new adult emerges
sometime m August and
feeds for a short time before
seeking Winter quarters
its damage for the year
completed.
According to Tetrault,
both feeding punctures and
egg punctures are made in
the fruit by the adult.
The feeding punctures are
small round holes extending
into the fruit about 1/8 inch.
Egg punctures are
distinguished by a
characteristic crescent
shaped cut which partially
surrounds the sunken egg.
Adults make an average of
over 100 feeding and/or egg
punctures during their
normal life. Feeding punc
tures cause misshapen or
gnarly fruit.
Fruit tree varieties that
bloom the earliest are first to
provide .suitable locations
for feeding and depositing
eggs.
The critical period for
this pest comes
during the first warm
(gjgh
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Work the hugs out of your crops
weather after petal fall when
the temperature climbs to
about 75 degrees for several
days.
Tetrault warns that when
f eedmg is greatly reduced by
low temperatures and
moderate rams wash spray
deposits from fruit and
foliage, as growers noted
during the Spring of 1978 and
1979, curculio control is more
difficult. He also pomted out
the cooler weather means
the active pest will be
around the orchard for an
extended period.
Penn State advises or
chardists to monitor tem
peratures in order to time
curculio Sprays, with
spraymg schedules for trees
bordering woods or fence
rows being more frequent.
Tetrault said most of the
insecticide combinations
suggested m Penn State’s
commercial production
guide have provided com
mercially acceptable con
trol. However, the Guthion
plus Penncap-M com
bination, he said, has a slight
edge.
Along with getting the
right insecticide com-
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bination, Penn State
reminds growers that the
length of time between
sprays is also important.
Where growers have
noticed a history of plum
eurciho injury, the following
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Blue Ball & Strasburg, PA
717-354-4955
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601 E. High St.
Elizabethtown, PA
717-367-1221
LANCASTER & CHESTER CO
LAPP'S HARDWARE AND
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RD 4, Box 96, Loop Road
Quarryvilie, Pa. 17566
717-786-3970
BEDFORD CO
BENCE FARM EQ.
Bedford, PA
BERKS CO
LONGACRE ELECTRICAL
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602 Main St.
Bally, PA
215-845-2261
POTTER CO
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RD #1
Westfield, PA
MARYLAND
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301-452-8521
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R.D 1 Loysville, PA RD2, Box 114
717-438-3530 Somerset, PA 15501
814-445-6842
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are important con
siderations;
-shorten the interval
between sprays during peak
activity (this may be
necessary on only the out
side rows);
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1126 N. Franklin St.
Chambersburg, PA
717-264-6007
Eastern Region Distributor
P.O. Box 3146, York, PA 17402
Call Jeff -717-755-8062
—increase the insecticide
rate during peak activity
and,
—select the most effective
insecticides without
sacrificing control of other
pests.
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RD 1, Box 265
Thomasville, PA
717-225-1064
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810 Tulpehocken Road
Myerstown, PA 17067
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Troy, PA
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Wind Gap, PA
215-863-9712
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VIRGINIA
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RD 1 Box 113
Remington, VA 22734
703-439-3842
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Box 203 C, RD 2
Howard, PA 16841
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