PEACH PESTS 



1567 



wash three times a season, the first ap- 

 plication to be made the last week in 

 March, the second application during the 

 second week in July, and the third appli- 

 cation about the first of October. For 

 trees apparently healthy but slightly at- 

 tacked — Paint the trees with a thick coat 

 of whitewash three times each season as 

 in the previous treatment, applying it to 

 the trunks and larger limbs. The white- 

 wash applied at the time specified will 

 act as a repellent, the emergence of the 

 beetles being slightly later than the dates 

 given for the different applications. Add 

 one-fourth pound table salt to each pail 

 of whitewash, thus making the latter 

 more adhesive. All of the dead, or nearly 

 dead, limbs and trees should be removed 

 and burned as fast as they appear in an 

 orchard, as this will destroy the breeding 



P^^*^®^- H. A. GOSSARD 



Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station BuUe 

 tin 233. 



The Peach Twig Borer 



Anaisia UneateVa Zell 

 One of the most common enemies of 

 the peach in the United States is the 

 twig borer, or '"burl worm" as it is some- 

 times called. Its occurrence has been 

 reported from most of the peach-grow- 

 ing states of the Union, both in the East 

 and West. 



The adult of the twig borer is a tiny, 

 dark-gray moth. It is an Old World 

 species, supposed to have come to us with 

 the peach from Western Asia, and has 

 been known in the United States since 

 1860. 



Kind of Trees Affected. — The twig borer 

 is principally an enemy of the peach, 

 and usually we hear of it in connection 

 with its damage to this fruit. It may 

 be found, however, on all stone-fruit 

 trees, but shows a decided preference for 

 the peach. In Bulletin SO of the Bureau 

 of Entomology of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Dr. Marlatt 

 mentions the pear among its list of food 

 plants. The writer has never noted the 

 attack of this insect upon other than 

 stone-fruit trees. Its occurrence on the 

 pear or other pome fruits is probably 

 rare, and might be compared to the oc- 



currence of the coiling moth, which is 

 almost exclusively an enemy of the pome 

 fruits, in plums, peaches, or other stone 

 fruits. While cases of codling moth in- 

 festing stone fruits in any numbers are 

 rare, they were found the past season 

 in Colorado so plentiful in Burbank 

 plums of a certain orchard that they 

 were really doing considerable damage. 

 The twig borer, during a season of abun- 

 dance, might occasionally modify its 

 habits to the extent of an occasional at- 

 tack upon pome fruits, as the codling 

 moth in a season of abundance may mod- 

 ify its habits and occasionally attack 

 stone fruits. 



The Larvae and Their Injury. — The 

 larvae hibernate in little silk-lined cham- 

 bers constructed within the bark and 

 very close to its surface. 



While hibernating they vary somewhat 

 in size but are all very small, and their 

 detection is somewhat difficult except 

 when very close observations are made. 

 The presence of the larvae during the 

 hibernating period could scarcely be de- 

 tected were it not for the fact that they 

 construct, at the entrance to their bur- 

 rows, tiny silken tubes covered on the 

 outside with bits of bark which were 

 chewed off while excavating the hiber- 

 naculare. These little tubes are shown in 



I'iK. 1. 



Larva of Twig Borer Magnified 

 Twenty-six Times. 



