The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1911-06-30
THE PEACH WORM AND
HOW TO CONTROL IT


The so-called "neach worm" is a
little whitish curved grub found il
| ripe peaches. 1t is the larva or grub
stage OF small beetle called the
| plum curculio. This is the same
| species that infests plums as well is
! cherries. 1t does a great deal of
damage to apples.
! he adult beetle is a rough blacl-
ISL beetle about one-fifth CT an iach
| IONS with short snodt at the end OF
which are the biting or chewn.
mouthparts. 1t has two black humps
/ Immediately behind the middle OF 40
back, and directly back OF these there
Is dull yelIowish band with a few
Vhltish marks near the center THIS
wcovil is relative OF the cotton ron
weevil, but they have no dealings WITT
che another, the one feeding only on
cotton, while the subject of this ar
ticle feeds on stone and ponaeeods
fruits.
The plum curculiodsspend the win.
ter as beetles in all sorts of rubbish
in and near the orchards. They hide
under piles of leaves and dead grass,
in hedgerows and other places where
they are not likely to be disturbed or
exposed to storms. In the spring
they come out and feed ravenously on
the young fruit soon after the bios,
SONS fall. Both sexes at this time
eat round holes in the skin of the
fruit. They prefer smooth skinned
stone fruits, but they also attack
peaches and apples. With their bit
ing jaws they cut off tiny bits OF the
fruit and swallow them. They never
suck out the juices of the fruit They
can thus be poisoned without any
doubt by means of arsenical insecti-
cldeS spread over the surface OF the
young fruit before they begin feeding
The female beetles make crescent
shaped cuts in the fruit through whle il
they lay their eggs, one in each cut
ms is to prevent the growing fruit
from crushing the tender egg. When
the grub matches, it begins at once to
eat into the heart of the fruit, thus
causing 1t to fall prematureIy Cher
rles are the only exception to this
rule, for some reason they hang on
the tree until ripe even if they are
infested with these grubs. The fe-
males are active in their egg-laying
for four or five weeks after they be-
gin feeding and ovipositing. "a
individuals do keep it up, however,
for a month or two later Thus ripe
peaches are often found with worms
i'll them which must have Matched
from eggs laid rather late in the
growth of the peach. Those that
emerge from eggs laid while the
peaches were very small always
cause the fruit to fall off early, while
If the eggs are laid later when the
peaches are half grown or more they
VIII hang on anyhow. When the grub
get their growth, they leave the fruit
and enter the soil to a depth of one
half inch to two inches, where they
make little earthern cells in which
come out of the soil the same season
before the fruit is ripe, and feed
around the stem, thus causing the
stem end injury of fruit so we'll
known to orchadists wherever this in
sect is serious pest. The weevi,s
at this time do not lay any eggs: they
merely feed for a time getting them
selves husky enough to spend the
winter alive. This they do as above
stated under rubbish, coming out in
the spring to continue the life cycle
Of this troublesome little pest. From
this account OF the plum curculio.
or the peach worm" if you choose to
call 1t so, the reader can see that 1t
is pest that assails his interests,
first as beetle, feeding on the rip
ening fruit and causing the stem end
injury, next, the same individuals the
fonowing spring feed on the fruit ana
lay their eggs under its skin, thus
distributing rot fungi and greatly in.
creasing the number of rotten
peaches. BY examining closely ripe
peaches injured by brown rot any OBJ
servant peach grower can sec that
the rotten area often, or generally.
surrounds a curculio puncture. We
Go not yet know whether the destruc-
ton of the curculios would prevent all
rot; in all probability there would be
iome brown rot anyhow if there were
40 cuculios. The young grubs tun-
oeling in the fruit cause it to All
trematurely, while those that hatch
later in the season cuts of the curcu-
lift in plums and peaches also cause
a great deal of sap to ooze out. This
is especially noticeable in plums.
Another injury caused by the beetles
is the damage otter seen in apples.
The holes made by the curculios feed
ing and egg laying in the young ap-
pies before they are the size of wal
nuts cause the June drop" These
apples that do not fall, even though
punctured, become badly gnarled and
knotty and all out of shape. They
ere thus unfit for market. In some
The Yaggy orchards at Hutchinson
Kansas, are said to contain 10000