Dan:

If oriental fruit moth larvae are responsible for the deterioration around the pits of your peaches, you should also be able to identify the entry point or points on the skin of the fruit. It is possible for OFM larvae to actually enter through the peach stem, but this is quite uncommon, and entry points are usually visible from the outside of the fruit.

I use the shoe store try-on footies on peaches, and they are quite effective, though apparently not 100% for some growers who see OFM entries in spite of them. I am always looking for ways to reduce, if not eliminate, the use of pesticides and fungicides on my peaches and other fruits, although my eyes tend to glaze over at the use of the "organic" word. Timely use of pesticides, such as at thinning time before footies is installed, is sometimes required. I have no worries about pesticide residues when applications are made months before harvest.

If you want to try footies, the time to install them is obviously when the insects become active, which is usually as soon as the fruits set. I usually thin peaches around three times before I am satisfied they are adequately spaced and I have selected the largest, fastest-growing specimens that show no early insect damage whatsoever. During this period, I spray with permethrin or imidan. In the early development stage, my peaches are attacked by the plum curculio as well as the oriental fruit moth. At the final thinning, when the peaches are about the size of a quarter or larger, I bag them. At that point, spraying should no longer be necessary.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Spot-e-dog, I'm in Colorado, and I apparently had the same problem this year. Mine should be ripening up in another couple of weeks.

Do we have OFM in Washington and Oregon? I had never believed so as I have never seen any evidence of them on my peaches, plums, apples or anything else. Have I just been lucky?

tcstoehr:

If you do not have these insect problems on your peaches, give thanks to the Great Spirit.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

All  thanks for your quick responses. Jellyman, IÂll try the footies next spring at the suggested time. IÂm not hard-core organic, but I stay away from chemicals when I can. This was my first full year with this tree, and I had some serious leaf curl problems in the spring. I intend to use fungicides (bordeaux mix) this fall and next spring to address that.

Tctoehr  I donÂt really know if my problem is OFM, but given the symptoms, it sure sounds like it. I donÂt see any obvious holes in the skin, but you could drive a truck through the gap around the stem.

Dan

I thought the classic sign of OFM on peaches was an oozing of sap and frass thru where the OFM lays an egg or where the larva enters, like this:

http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/treefruit/pests/ofm/ofm_fig5.asp

I have never seen anything like this on my peaches. But I have had an occasional gaping hole at the stem end where earwigs love to crawl in. These peaches are still a delight to eat by the way. I just figured these split pits were sort of a normal occurrence that I could put up with. On occasion, I pick peaches for canning at local orchards that spray heavily and I see the same thing: split pits and holes at the stem end. But I have never ever seen the oozing sap or a larva.
I don't think they're here... yet. Nor the dreaded Plum Curculio. But I really can't be sure, so I will look into it further.

Dan:

Given the significant differences between your climate and mine, TCStoehr may well be right that you are not dealing with OFM, but rather earwigs working around the stem area. When my early June temps are in the 80's, and OFM are laying eggs like there was no tomorrow, your temps may still be in the mid-50's, which is not conducive to an OFM hatch. It's all about location. I have also heard before that plum curculio is practically unknown in the PNW, while we have it in the east each and every spring.

Earwigs do seem to love peaches, and they can be a signficant problem even here, though they prefer cooler, damp weather. Not that that makes your problem any easier. If you do install footies, tie them tightly over the branch or stem above the fruit so any earwigs would be excluded from the stem area as well as the fruit surface. I find that tying this material with a single tie is sufficient, and makes it easier to remove. No real knot required because of the natural friction of the nylon.

I understand split pit as a physiological problem, which can vary with peach varieties. I have some that get it, usually the earlier varieties, and some that don't. Insect presence is not necessarily responsible for split pit. But deterioration of the peach around the pit is.

If you are having trouble with peach leaf curl (which thankfully is not a problem here) I think dormant spraying with an effective copper compound like Kocide with a high percentage of fixed copper would be much more effective than the old Bordeaux mixture. With the high curl pressure that you see in Seattle, I would do at least two sprays; one in early dormancy, and another at bud break. And maybe one in between.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I've had trouble with earwigs and peaches as well. There seem to be a lot of earwigs around here, and they really creep me out.

Do the footies deter squirrels by any chance? (I hope, I hope....)

And the peaches with obvious insect entry marks, should I just snip them off and toss them so the tree doesn't put any more energy into a peach that I won't eat? Can they be composted, or should they just be trashed?

Lilacs:

Yes you should remove the peaches with obvious insect marks as soon as they are identified. Peaches are not snipped, but twisted off the trees to thin them. They don't have stems to snip.

I think you can compost the thinnings if you like, since OFM is unlikely to hatch out when buried in the compost pile.

Squirrels should be dealt with using peanut butter/plaster of paris bonbons. They work, and the only solution for squirrels is the permanent one.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA