Apples, Part Three
When growing apples, you can’t avoid the need to manage pests. On the Island, apple pests range from small to large.
Among the small pests, the most insidious is scab, a fungus that loves the Island’s moist climate. You can certainly adopt a fungicide spray regimen to fight scab. But, as mentioned in an earlier post, the simplest way to manage this pest is to select scab-resistant trees when you plant.
Another “small” threat is coddling moth, increasingly a big problem on the Island. This insect hatches from eggs on the tree’s leaves or fruit. The resulting larvae burrow into apples to get to the core, leaving behind a small tunnel through the flesh. Later, these same larvae burrow back out to pupate elsewhere on the tree. Many consider the affected fruit ruined.
The only way to control this pest is to set out pheromone traps as indicators of when the moth has hatched and will be laying eggs, then, when so indicated, applying a targeted insecticide. Good ground hygiene—raking fallen leaves and keeping woody debris away from the tree’s base—can help by removing moth eggs deposited there.
Voles, a widespread Island rodent, can threaten your apple tree by eating its roots and chewing around its base, girdling it. People use snap-traps (inside a closure) to control vole numbers, but a simpler (and more humane) measure is preventive: Remove or mow tall grass and brush near the tree, since voles dislike travel across open ground.
Still larger on the size chart are the greater pests: deer and raccoons.
Deer threaten apple production at every stage. They will eat shoots and blossoms in the spring, feed on leaves during the summer, and feast on fruit in the fall. The good news with deer predation is that prevention is made simple with fencing. Keeping trees fenced in 6’ x 6’ x 6’ cages until their branches are strong and leaves/fruit above deer height is, in the long run, the easiest deterrent. Make sure the cage you build is made of sturdy fencing that’s sufficiently supported. Otherwise, deer will “climb” it—i.e., smash down the fence with their front hooves.
Raccoons are a late-season threat, going after apples as they ripen. Telltale signs of raccoon predation are fruit that’s half-eaten still on the tree or parts of apples on the ground beneath. Fences do no good against raccoons, since they are adept climbers—that is, unless the fence is electrified. A raccoon “fence”—two strands of charged wire placed at 6” and 12” off the ground and encircling the tree—presents a barrier raccoons usually won’t cross or jump.
When all these measures fail (as they will from time to time), the best “solution” to predation is accepting some level of loss from it. The next (and last) post in this series takes up the more hopeful (!) topic of getting started in apple-growing.
