CODLING MOTH
The Coddling Moth pest is often impossible to detect until you take a bite into an apple or pear and see the hole made by the maggot in the flesh - hopefully the maggot is nearer the centre of the fruit, because if not, it's probably now in your mouth!

The Codling Moth lays it's eggs on the surface of the developing fruit in June time, these hatch out and then then tunnel into the centre. The caterpillar is fully fed around August, so it eats it's way out of the fruit and spends it's winter in loose flakes of bark on the tree trunk. A truly repulsive pest!

How to Treat Codling Moth
If you are plagued by the Codling Moth, take a trip to the local garden centre and purchase one 'pheromone trap' - one trap will do the job for as many as three or four trees. Hang the trap in one tree  - pheromone is the scent given off by the female moth which attracts the male moth indicating that it is ready for a bit of 'nooky'! The male Codling Moths fly into the trap, stick onto the paper in it, resulting in no 'nooky' that night! In scientific tests, this has reduced the number of fertile eggs laid by 80%.

A further preventative measure consists of scraping off loose bark (only the loose bits, not all) in early July, and then tying sacking around the trunk. The idea behind this is that the caterpillars will make their way down the trunk in August time and attempt to over winter in the sacking. Remove and burn the sacking in November time to destroy the caterpillars.

END OF CODLING MOTH ARTICLE

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