-4- 



£upplement£iry Contro l Mea&ures for Codling Mot h 



A nuinl")cr oi' comm'Lrcial grov/ors in Mf.ss: chusetts ^,re icrap- 

 ing the loose bark from older trees this yeiv for the first tirae. 

 Increasing difficulty vvixh codling moth control ]ias prompted this 

 sup]}lemontary control measure. One gro'.vor reports findinr more 

 than 40 codling moth cocoons in a single apple box. Ileealess to 

 say, he found plenty of "stings" in the fruit at harvest time 

 last fall. Removal of loose bark is quite essential if one is 

 planning to use chemically treated bai.ds around the tr'unk. Only 

 Dy removing the natural hiding places for the larvae can the bands 

 be made most effective. An almost unbelievable number of larvae 

 have been counted beneath codling moth bands in Massachusetts 

 where this method of control has been tested by A. I. Bourne in 

 recent years. V/e are inclined to think of the codling moth as of 

 little consequence in this section, ".vhere our growing season is 

 relatively short and the second brood is usually ratiier light. 

 In regions farther souths where a full second and third brood de- 

 velops, there is, of course, a i.iuch more serioiis problem. Put 

 even in i;ew England, codling moth seems to be on the increase, 

 particularly where the control program involves dust application's 

 in s t e a d of s p r a y s . 



Two Simple Pruning tSuggestioris 



Seldom do v/e find tv/o people v.'ith the s&me notions about 

 pruning an apple tree. The amount and kind of pruning is so tied 

 up v'itn age of tree, vigor and variety that rifles are rs difficult 

 to follow as thioy are to form.ulate. It is almost impossible to 

 tell anyone how to prione because the "how'' depends so much upon 

 "what" we have to begin with. If a tre-^ is leapt growing rapidly 

 from the start and if i'^ had a "leader" to begin vrith, the chtnces 

 are it will develop into a fairly strong tree. But very often 

 something happens to check the gro'.'th of the feeder and subseouent 

 grov.'th gets shvjnted into r i;horl of vigorous, closel-/ spaced side 

 limbs. Such a tree, if allo\7ed to continue i;ithout corrective 

 pruning, may have -cwo or three or more le&ders r.nd perhaps a v;eak 

 framework. To correct •cliis situation, the whorl must be partially 

 eliminated by drastic :io;.:.ding hick of some of tiie side limbs or 

 preferably by removal of seme of thi-e side limbs entirely. The 

 sooner this c^n be done, the better. Under nc- conditions should 

 a side limb be allo-v/ed to outgrow' the leader. To state the matter 

 in a different way, if a side limb of a very young tree shows un- 

 mistakable signs of leadership, ia may be advisable to select 

 that for the leader and to remove the jiortion of the tree origi- 

 nally designated ss the leader. Cuts of this can be made at Z or 

 3 years of age and cciplecely ohcinge the fri,mev/ork of the tree 

 without greatly retarding fruit production. But if the corrective 

 pruning is delayed until the tree is /^ or 5 years of age it is 

 almost impossibl'-' to attain the desired end. 



Our second suggertion concerns an apple tree 15 or 20 years 

 of £ge or older which lirs borne heavy crops. Successive crops 

 have bent the branches dov;nw.;,rd luitil some are well belov; the hori- 



