Codling Moth
Codling moth
The Codling moth (Cydia pomonella) is a member of the Lepidopteran family Tortricidae and is a very important pest of apples throughout the world. It also attacks pears, walnuts, prunes, quinces, hawthorn, some varieties of plums and other tree fruits. It is native to Europe and was introduced to North America, where it has become one of the regular pests of apple orchards. It is found almost worldwide.
Biology
Codling moth over winters as a full grown larva. The larvae pupate inside cocoons in early spring. Shortly thereafter they emerge as moths. The adult is greyish with light grey and copper stripes on its wings. Male moths begin to appear in pheromone traps when temperatures are at least 13° C (55° F) at dusk. Mating does not occur until sunset temperatures reach 17° C (62° F). The moths are active a few hours before and after dusk. Over-wintered females will lay 30 to 70 eggs singly on leaf surfaces or on tiny fruit. Eggs of the over-wintered population hatch 3 to 5 days after being laid. The newly hatched larvae are pinkish-white with a black head. They bore into fruit within 24 hours after hatching. Most nourishment is obtained by feeding on the proteinacous seeds.
First generation larvae require about 3 to 5 weeks to complete development and pupate. The average length of time for the over-wintering generation to complete development and emerge as moths is 60 to 80 days. At least two generations of codling moth per year will occur in most regions. A third and even a partial fourth generation will occur in warmer areas. Damage may go unnoticed in the earlier part of the season because attack causes drop of young fruitlets
Control
The prime difficulty in dealing with codling moth infestations lies with appropriate timing. The method of calculating 'degree-days' is used by apple growers to understand when a pests such as codling moth will reach a particular stage of development during a given season. Since stages of insect development are triggered by the accumulation heat over time, this calculation involves careful tracking of changes in daily temperature.
Codling moth infestations are often managed with pesticides although resistance and concerns over pesticide residues within the fruit have resulted in increased adoption of mating disruption techniques. Pheromone traps are used to capture male moths for monitoring and setting biofix, which is the time of first flight for codling moth.
Mating disruption involves the use of a pheromone impregnated release device. Dispensers are distributed throughout the orchard and emit female sex pheromone at a high and relatively constant rate. Mating disruption affects males by increasing the time required for males to find females, thus reducing fecundity, or masking the position of females to searching males, reducing mating substantially.
The Checkmate CM dispensers, Checkmate CM Flow and Puffers CM all provide economic solutions for the control of Codling Moth in Integated Crop Management programmes.
Products
Crops