Help! My Cooking Apple Tree has a pest that comes back every year.
June 23, 2011 3 Comments
If you know anything about fruit trees then I would really appreciate your help to solve my pest problem:
Every year for the last 4 years, my Cooking Apple Tree has been afflicted with the same pest. Sometimes we get one or two apples growing but they don’t get to a good size and drop off before they are ready.
The Conference Pear Tree on the same wall is thriving and we are expecting a huge crop against next year.
Both our trees are espalier and cut back at the end of each season. We have also tried leaving out apple until the spring before cutting back, but it made no difference.
Any help or insight would be gratefully received.
About hannahejones
My gardener who is very good says there are chemical compounds you can buy, but doesn’t recommend them. He stated that pruning right back and reducing the size of the sometimes helps. Let me know if you want him to take a look.
I’m pretty sure the insect you’ve photographed is a ladybird larva, so not a pest – an ally, in fact. I would guess the ladybirds are attracted by aphids, which are probably what is causing the leaves to curl – that’s what happens on our apple trees, anyway! I don’t do anything about the aphids, but we still seem to get decent apple crops, so I doubt that is what’s causing the problem. As to what is, sorry, I don’t know. Is it a very old tree?
Thank you Bob and Susan for your suggestions.
The tree is about 5 years old and we do cut back pretty severely every year.