The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1920-07-01
WINTER DIDN'T
KILL ALL BUGS
Worms Slower in Matching this
Year but the Hotter the Wea-
ther the Faster They Come

| Deputy Horticultural Inspector F. E.
Bailey has issued the following bulle-
tin to fruit growers:
| 1t is interesting to note that spec
ialists engaged in the study of codling
moth control in the Yakima Valley
report a. very high mortality among
those moths which sought winter quar-
tiers above the snow line.
Those moths which winter under the
bark of trunks and branches and in
the crevices about sheds and buildings
are the first to respond to the warm
days of late spring and their progeny
are the first to damage the apple and
pear. 1t is those moths which have
largely been killed OFF by the extreme
temperature of last year.
Unfortunately for the fruit grower,
the largest proportion of the moths
winter in the top soil, vegetation and
litter beneath the trees. An exact
check of the mortality of the moths is
difficult to obtain. However, there is
evidence that because of their prox-
unity to the earth's surface with the
additional protection of the snow blan-
ket, the majority of the moths in this
class survived winter and will produce
worms to damage the fruit.
Insect life does not become active
In the spring the atmosphere warns
In tn spring the atmosphere warns
and raches the critical temperature
for insect activity more readily than
does the soil. Therefore, those moths
alternating on dead bark of trees and
in the crevices of buildings are first
to became active and they cause the
early stings, while those wintering in
or near the soil come along at later
dates.
Practically considered, this means
that in Benton county the appearance
of worms was more or less scattered
during the early days of June because
they represented the few moths which
survived winter above the. snow line.
AS the season advances the moths
from the more protected locations will
make their appearance in greater num-
bers, therefore, We can expect more
worms.
AS for broods Of worms, we know
in the lower Yakima Valley adjacent
Columbia River Valley, which consti-
tutes the warme& part Of the state,
the worm broods always have tended
to overlap.
This year the devitalizing effect Of
winter is slowing up the development
of some moths just as some fruit trees
are injured and set back more than
others. This will tend to draw out the
first brood and make it overlap the
second more than during normal
year. Therefore, we may look for
continuous Matching OF worms thruout
the summer months.
In order to safeguard against a con-
tinuous Matching Of worms, the fruit
should be kept constantly covered with
a film of poison. For that purpose
spray schedule as follows has been re-
commended for Benton and Franklin
counties:
Apply the first cover spray approx
imately twenty days after the calyx
spray. Apply the second and all later
cover sprays at intervals Of fifteen to
eighteen days ON large rapid growing
varieties of apples, such as Rome and
Delicious and at intervals Of eighteen
to twenty-one days on smaller and less
rapid growing varieties such as the
Winesaps.
Use arsenate of lead powder at one
pound to fifty gallons of water. Use
high pressure and cover trees thoroly.
\. A wormy apple should be destroyed
Immediately. Do not allow the wormy
Trimmings to develop more worms TO in
fest the orchard later in the summer.