Codling moths make budding apple crop home for larvae

Q: My apples are pretty much a lost cause this year after super cold, super windy and now super hot weather. I expected a small crop (from the apples) but not this blight. It starts with a “poke” in the apple and ends up looking like the apple in the picture! Any clue what this might be? — K.S., Albuquerque

A: From the picture, I believe that your apples are/were attacked by a horrid pest called codling moth. I come to this decision since the damage shown starts on the blossom end of the fruit.

Here’s what I know about codling moths. “Mom” and “Dad” emerge from having spent a snuggly winter either in the soil very near your trees, or cocooned in the bark if it’s an older, more gnarly barked tree. If the trees are very young and still smooth-barked, then I’m betting on the larvae pupating in the soil and emerging as adults. The adults come out to play and mate literally within days of the apple getting ready to bloom.

Next, mom lays her fertile eggs on, or very near, the lovely apple blossom. As the bloom fades and the fruit begins to swell, the eggs hatch and the larval form of the moth starts to chew its way into the fruit, eating and growing for about three-to-five weeks. All the while, the fruit continues growing, keeping the larvae safe and well-fed. Once matured enough the larva exits the fruit, either moving down the trunk and finds that cozy gnarly space in the bark or falls directly to the ground, cocoons and waits.

I’ve learned that there can be five-to-eight generations of codling moths each growing season. Each subsequent egg-drop can be laid directly on the apples and the young bore into it. Crafty little devils, huh?

In one of my reference books, it recommends spraying the trees with the pesticide pyrethrin. Apply the first spraying, in early spring, when three-fourths of the blossom petals have fallen. Then follow that initial spraying three more times, at seven-to-14 day intervals. By applying those sequential sprayings you should be able to hunt each hatch of the next generation. You can also purchase pheromone traps that can attract and kill the male moths. Since there is less successful mating, in theory you have fewer eggs laid.

Another way to trap the adult moths is to hang red balls on the tree, mostly near the edges, that you smear a product called Tanglefoot sticky coating to coat the ball. The moths, attracted by the red color, get stuck on the ball and voila, fewer eggs hatching affecting the fruit. One article I read suggested hanging coated red crochet balls, but that seems a bit heavy to me. The ball needs to be smooth, more like a ping pong ball, and red is best. Doing the Tanglefoot method is a very timed event, so by spraying and hanging the death-trap red balls you should be able to get a fair hunt.

This late autumn, I suggest that you inspect the tree bark thoroughly and if it’s loose, pluck it away to see if you can find any of the cocooning larvae. If so, remove them and consider spraying the tree trunk with dormant oil, soaked to dripping wet. Consider spraying every four weeks, as long as the temperature restrictions on the label are being adhered to, during late autumn through the winter months.

Another technique to thwarting the larvae includes wrapping “flimsy” corrugated cardboard as tightly as you can around the trunk, from the period of blossom until leaf drop. Make sure the corrugated pattern is running vertically so any of the larvae that are crawling down the trunk find a tunnel and think it’ll be a good place to cocoon. Then every few weeks unwrap that cardboard and dispose of it. Then rewrap the trunk to make an additional system of trapping even more of the codling moth larvae. You can find gobs of additional information online about codling moths, but I hope this has helped solve at least part of your apple mystery.

Q: Recently noticed some bushes planted along the median on Candelaria Road that have beautiful purple flowers. Do you know what they are, and are they easy to grow and maintain? — D.P. Albuquerque

A: I know that lovely plant as Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens. The “Western Garden Book” calls it “Texas Ranger.”

Yes, it’ll grow good here, but I’d be a bit hesitant taking it much further north. The two most common varieties are “Green Cloud,” which I think is in your offered photo, is wearing a blanket of purple bloom with light green foliage, and “Silver Cloud” that sports the same flower, but the leaves are more of a silvery grey-green.

Either are easy to grow here, with a few caveats. Don’t overwater these gems. Enough to maintain plant health, just not constant water. I’m lucky to have two and I am thrilled when they bloom. A favorite pastime is to stand close and listen to the bush “hum” from all the bees feasting on the pollen and nectar. You’ll notice them this time of year because they have a peculiar habit. They bloom during the period of the monsoon. Granted, this year’s monsoon has been iffy, but once the humidity rises, the Texas Ranger explodes into bloom.

Easy to grow, you betcha. The only thing I do to mine is water and have them trimmed by at least a third annually in the early spring. That’s it!

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.