Native pest does not fall far from the tree
(NC) The apple maggot, which is a fly native to North America, has been a serious pest in Canada for over 100 years. Each female can lay up to a total of 500 eggs over its lifetime. Shockingly, this is only a span of two to four weeks. It was first identified in Edmonton in 2005 and has since infected most of the city’s apple trees.
Female apple maggots deposit eggs under the apple skin. Larvae feed on it, causing the fruit to rot internally. Once one apple is infected, surrounding trees become vulnerable as well. Small dimples and depressions will appear. Apples infested early in the season will appear bumpy as they mature. This damage can also appear as distinctive brown tunnels winding throughout the flesh of the fruit. Heavily infested fruit can become mushy and prematurely drop. Even low levels of infestation can result in the fruit rotting.
Apple growers have discovered that they are able to protect their orchards and eliminate the pest by spraying their trees with insecticides. If left unchecked, this pest would have a devastating impact on Canada’s apple industry – which produces 22 million bushels of this popular fruit every year.
Growers say they are pleased to have access to crop protection products that keep the bounty free from disease, bacteria and insects. Without these tools, Canadians would certainly miss the nutrition of their ‘apple a day’
Don’t worry, Safe Tree has a solution. Contact our Plant and Health Care Specialists by clicking HERE to learn more about how you can alleviate the stress these pests cause to our apple trees.
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