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Bugs on Plum Tree

yelena
11 years ago

I have so many bugs on my plum (prune) tree I never saw before. And a lot of them! Is it plum curculio or something else? I tried to search Internet but not sure what to do.

Thank you.

{{gwi:114814}}

Comments (10)

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    Keep that one! It's a ladybug.

  • yelena
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you! I would never guess that it's ladybug. Not red and no black dots.

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    It's an immature stage.

  • alan haigh
    11 years ago

    E plums are aphid magnets here. If you spray the aphids you don't establish lady bugs and have to keep spraying.

  • janinejames
    8 years ago

    my plum tree had tons of aphids, I cut off the tips hoping to get rid of them,HA! now 2 weeks later, I look at the leaves and they are infested with these little ladybug larvae.. and my plums are not developing properly, going brown and shrivelling up. I am going to keep and eye(but not too close because I am feeling itchy already from just looking at them !) on these so called bugs and see if they really become lady bugs, because I have aphids on my roses, gooseberries, currant bushes and if these are lady bugs, they will have food for all for a very long time. I would send a pic but don't want to get that close, maybe my husband will! janine

  • meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
    8 years ago

    The larvae of ladybugs eat even more aphids than the adults, and that's definitely one of them! They look like little alligators in real life :D

    If you don't need to spray insecticide for anything else, the ladybug larvae will take care of the aphids, yeah :) I don't know what's wrong with your plums, though. It does sound like something that might need a spray, or have needed a spray. I find it hard to keep beneficials very long in the orchard, because there are too many heavy-hitting sprays that need to be done, darnit. I move a lot of them by hand to other areas, lol.


  • rphcfb14
    8 years ago

    Young stages of beneficial insects can look like troubles but yheycare not. When in doubt, google pis to compare.

    Young fruit that shrivelled and fell off often becuause of the tree is too young to carry fruit or insufficient pollination.

  • rphcfb14
    8 years ago

    Another way to reduce aphid infestation is wrap a trunk of your tree with plastic bag into large band tightly and smear it with Tanglefoot. It will stop ant from going up the trees to farm aphids. I am talking about black aphids.

  • janinejames
    8 years ago

    thank you for all the advise! we definitely see them changing into lady bugs and hope they take care of most the aphids. the little plums falling off, they do cull themselves each year and we have more than we need in plums that will grow up to be eaten. if anything the tree is getting old to handle all the plums it starts with. we cheaped out on buying tanglefoot this year and found another product, seems likes packaging tape and sticks just as well(not to the bark !) and not sticky anymore on the outside! waste of money and time.. sometimes you have to put out the money for the good stuff ! janine

  • matthias_lang
    8 years ago

    Janine, in the stage for which you show the photo, they eat "tons" of aphids. Its a great thing.