Peaches are generally at shuck-fall or a bit later.
This means tree development is slower, and some key pest development is either slower or nonexistant. On average, members of the UMass IPM crew have been examining 1500-2000 fruits per day across 48 commercial orchard blocks for evidence of plum curculio activity. Each of these blocks is visited and sampled every three days as part of a large experiment to determine whether a correlation exists between captures of PC in black pyramid traps and PC injury levels within the orchards. From ongoing studies of PC movement in some unmanaged orchard sites, we have reason to believe that a significant proportion of the overall PC population has yet to immigrate into orchards. Warm spells, such as occurred last week, are necessary to trigger invasions of PC from the woods surrounding the orchard and to inspire egglaying activity within the trees.