154 



CROP PRODUCTION 



food Puncture 

 Larva 



-Egq Puncrure 



PLUM 

 CURCULIO 



culios that the latter are a positive benefit in thinning 

 the fruit. But in the home orchard the CurcuHo needs 

 looking after if an adequate crop is to be gathered. 



The adult Plum Curculios appear on the trees in early- 

 spring about the time that the buds open. They feed 

 upon the young leaves awhile and remain until the 

 blossoms have come and gone and the fruit has set. 



Then they nibble 

 Httle cavities in the 

 green plums for food 

 and make character- 

 istic crescent-shaped 

 marks in the skin in 

 depositing their eggs 

 in the green flesh of 

 the young plums. 

 These eggs soon hatch 

 into little grubs that feed upon the pulp and render 

 the fruit unfit to ripen. So it falls to the ground, the 

 grub crawls out and finds shelter in the soil. Here it 

 changes to a pupa and a few weeks later changes to an 

 adult beetle that lives until the following spring. This 

 insect attacks cherries, peaches, and apples as well as 

 plums. 



In orchards the Plum CurcuHo can be killed off largely 

 by spraying with arsenates. In smaller plantings it is 

 often necessary to jar the trees early in the morning, 

 catching the beetles that fall by first placing a sheet on 

 the ground beneath the trees. CurcuHo catchers are 

 often made by spreading sheeting over a frame with one 

 or more wheels attached. The CurcuHos thus caught 

 are of course destroyed. 



