Perhaps thrips will prove to be our more effective predator this year. Be aware that if you use Danitol or other similar insecticides for codling moth control, that spider mite populations may increase quickly. Control treatments are past due. In general, peach, nectarine and apricot should be protected. In southern Utah, sweet cherry may also be attacked, and may need to be protected.
Female moths mate and begin laying eggs soon after emerging.
Eggs are laid on the lower trunk. Eggs hatch within 9 to 10 days. The larvae bore into the trunk, where they feed in the cambial layers, causing the damage. Once the larvae are inside the bark, they are protected from insecticides. A research trial at Kaysville in 2000 showed that a single application of mating disruption was as effective in preventing peachtree borer injury to trunks as a single Lorsban trunk treatment.