Kitchen Garden Forum

Our plums were about a month later in flowering and are about the same length of time late to crop. For the first time I can remember we have a plum moth maggot problem especially in the Victoria plums which don't seem to have formed as they should. The earlier Oullins Gage is less affected but we still need to cut open the fruit before biting into it

Anyone else had this problem?

Dear glallotments, Old Codger has the same problem. His Early Rivers Plum was fine, but the Plum (not sure what variety) that is ready now, has nearly every plum picked, affected, and the tree is laden with plums, so a real shame for him. This tree is often affected by them, so whether it is the timing of the fruiting, or it is the type of plum, i'm not sure.

yes, the horrid little blighters are in my plums too - don't know the variety as it's an inherited tree, but I think it's a Victoria.

our neighbour's tree always gets them, such a shame as it is a very prolific tree and they are good sweet plums too. yesterday I picked one and cut it in half for him to see if there was a larvae in there. it was clean! that was a surprise, lets hope he gets a few more clean ones, but he'll still have to cut each one open first.

We haven't had them before but usually all the plums are ripe and harvested by the end of August so I wonder if it is the timing this year.

If you hang a Pheromone Trap in the tree in May it does help.1 trap will do about 4 trees. Grease bands applied in the Autumn and spring will hep too as long as you keep them free of any debri.

Beryl.

Beryl wrote:If you hang a Pheromone Trap in the tree in May it does help.1 trap will do about 4 trees. Grease bands applied in the Autumn and spring will hep too as long as you keep them free of any debri.

Beryl.

We uses pheromone traps for our apples and will get some for plums but we didn't have this problem until this year.
Don't grease bands only work for the winter moth where the female can't fly?

Yes, probably Glallotments, not a 100% sure but I do find winter months one forgets to keep the bands clear especially on the allotment and if you suffer with ants as I do it helps to stop them too. Leaves and stuff they will use as bridges. Bye the way the inserts do need changing twice in the season I find too.

Beryl.

Beryl wrote:Yes, probably Glallotments, not a 100% sure but I do find winter months one forgets to keep the bands clear especially on the allotment and if you suffer with ants as I do it helps to stop them too. Leaves and stuff they will use as bridges. Bye the way the inserts do need changing twice in the season I find too.

Beryl.

We do change the lure inserts Beryl but only at the beginning of each season from about May. I also add grease to the stakes that our apple trees are tied to. Trouble with the plums is they grow in a grassy area.

I won't be popular saying this but bring back the old Winter Tar wash. Never had any problems with bugs then.

Beryl.

Beryl wrote:I won't be popular saying this but bring back the old Winter Tar wash. Never had any problems with bugs then.

Beryl.

We usually use a winter wash based on vegetable oils but we never got round to using it last winter. We really use it too control plum aphids that in the past have devastated our trees but this year they didn't surface