Just this week I was looking for a natural solution to this problem. I love this! Thank you so much, Stefan, you're always so timely, and accurate in your video posts.
Thanks for posting this. I have seen these hanging in your orchard and I always wondered what they were. This is a game changer for anyone with fruit trees. And bee friendly.
Thank you for the tip. May I add a stacking tip. when draining the oil bottles do so into a bucket of sand that you can use to rut prof your tools between uses.
I will try this method this year as Spring flowers are getting on our fruit trees in Chile…Can’t wait because last year we lost all of our pears and apples. It was extremely discouraging after taking care of them all year. Thanks Stefan.
Last two years, I used thick cardboard to wrap around the trunks of my two young apples trees and smeared with vaseline, to prevent any codling moth larva from making their way up the trees if there were any in the ground. So far i got great apples. Maybe they havent come to my garden yet but I really want to prevent them from coming. Your video is so helpful. Isn't molasses quite expensive?
Did you smear the cardboard with Vaseline or the trunk? How tightly was the cardboard wrapped - was it touching the truck right around? I wrapped cardboard around my trunks but my trees are old and trunks are irregular, so the cardboard doesn’t make contact right the way around.
Went out today to pick unripe apples that had fallen, as you had advised in one other video. Very disappointed to notice that almost all the apples (fallen ones and those still on the trees) are diseased. There are only 6 apple trees in the garden--five old ones planted by previous owner(s) of the property, plus one young tree which I planted 2 years ago. Not many unblemished apples, not even on the young tree! So, next summer it will be spraying with whey (if I can get my hands on some over here in a small Finnish town), making fly traps (the ones with the red dots), and coddling moth bottles!! Thank you for all the information. I'm learning a lot.
We had beautiful trees in our large yard in the suburbs they started to get wrinkled leaves and became sick some had to be cut down, didn't realize what it was until a hole started out of nowhere in the yard, my mother not being too educated on home care thought we had city sewage turns out we had a septic tank and the leech lines had been leaking (which is what they are supposed to do when the tank is overflowing) and for sometime too! Since we never had the thing serviced over a 15 year period!! Sewage kills fruit trees. Just a heads up for anyone new to that too.
Oh that happened to a large apple tree that is unowned in a nearby field. I attempted to wrap organza bags on the young apples one year but found the apples all rotten and fallen and not a single apple can be eaten. That is when I learnt about codling moths. Oh please use other methods rather than whey. Whey is from animal milk? The poor calves are suffering cos their mothers' milk is stolen for us human... please dont use whey :( xx
Would this also help with peach twig borers? And maybe squash vine borer moths? And does it work better than those lures, (that I have had much success with)?
Very interesting points about the degradation of different coloured bottles! Maybe the colours made a difference. The sun's UV and heat are what degrade the bottles. Interesting the black lasted since black should absorb the most heat. I was actually just wondering today what clothes colour - dark or light are best for sun protection. And then I heard your interesting feedback about the coloured bottles. :)
Your channel is amazing. I planted my first apple trees this year. All the new leaves have been eaten by tiny green caterpillars. Do you have a video about that and what I can do to avoid this next year? I’m in NW France.
This will help for all caterpillars. Adding nest boxes for small birds especially tits will help a lot. They love the green caterpillars. You have some fantastic resources in France: Conservatoire végétale régionale d’Aquitaine, GRAB, and INRA
The Utah State University shows somthing similar but they add the molasses to warm water with some yeast. For some reason the Yeast amplifies the attraction
Hi, the show you done away I absolutely loved it. I always make my own yogurt and I'm going to start using the way from the yoga to spray my trees. Thank you so much for that video
The only thing worse than finding a half of worm in an apple is finding a quarter of a worm. I like it. I was looking at spraying but I only have 1 apple tree so this will be much better. Can't wait because I love these apples I just don't know what kind it is. The tree was fully producing since 1971 when my parents bought the place, the fruit is green with red stripes later, harvest in sept, sweet but tart, large with fairly thick skin, eats and bakes well both. Best apples I've ever had. I found out they are probably Gravensteins. I'm finding Codling moths(I think) in the homemade traps but don't know if I'm getting all. Time will tell.
I lost all of my apples last year. I wasn't able to spray the trees, or so I thought, and both trees were loaded with fruit....and worms. Going to give this a try this year, and I sprayed hort oil/copper.
@@EICHist thanks for the update. I will try this method next year as well. Lost all apples last year (2 apple trees) and on the same track this year as well. Every single apple had a worm inside, and once it reaches the core the tree is dropping the fruit.
@@AlexGnok You might look into Surround Kaolin Clay. There are quite a few gardening YT channels recommending it. I am going to give it a try next year, but from what I hear it does a great job keeping bugs off fruit trees and veg plants. I am hoping the clay combined with traps will work well.
Great video. I picked up some oil containers and some molasses yesterday. I’ll be putting out my traps tomorrow. Can you tell me what kind of grafting knife that you use?
Was really hoping this method would work. I used a modified recipe from another place, but only addition to this forumla was Dawn dish soap to keep them from escaping. I can smell it, so maybe that's enough to deter them. I have caught zero moths in the 2 months it's been up. No organic pest control ever works for me (except sticky bands around trunk vs ants).The petroleum jelly over tennis balls is a fail, too. And whatever bugs don't ruin, squirrels destroy. Just today pulled up 15 apples from ground, and I always keep fruit off ground. Back yard fruit trees really are more work than worth. The idea is lovely, but everything else gets it, not the owner.
I’m learning so much from your channel. I help pollinate with my bees but the growing part is so interesting. Now I need to find a place that will be large enough and sunny enough to start growing fruits
Hi Stefan, @0.36 the recipe is 1 part water and 1 part molasses. Wow I am finding the molasses is very thick to work with and adding just 1 part water to it makes it still a very thick substance. I just want to confirm that it is really equal parts of water and molasses? Thanks.
I do see some, i think it forms around certain insects since it does not happen in many traps but does in some. Needs further research (trap colour, liquid temperature, insects in traps, ...)
My tree is presently in bloom and I am finding moths everywhere, already! I am doing it now. I just found about a dozen in my patio umbrella and another bunch under row covers in the hoop tunnel. The warm weather has brought them out before the tree is even setting fruit.
Hi Stefan you know so much about gardening, and I love your videos especially the (Indicator?) ones and was wondering if you have any idea's for white curl grubs, my veggie garden is full of them and they eat the roots of everything I plant. I live in Australia
Usually there are animals that relish them. We have skunks, raccoons and birds that hit an area hard for a day and deplete them. You likely have some digging animal and birds that prove with their beak (starlings here). Just seek to encourage them. Otherwise there are nematodes as organic control for grubs.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thanks for replying back, the only birds I have here are black birds, but as they were digging up my garden and seedlings and plants destroying the roots, and making a mess I had to cover everything with bird netting. so I guess the only option I have are nematodes, thanks
I'm off to my mechanic to ask for some bottles :) :0 Thank you Stefan! The other video I saw used a 2 litre British plastic milk bottle!! From what you say it will degrade fairly quickly. I only have ONE small tree! Most of the apples were infested last year :/
Perhaps a dual benefit of trapping those annoying wasps which could make holes in the fruit as it ripens ? However a potential downside that it traps other beneficial pollinators like bees, hoverflies etc ?
And why can't you unscrew the caps of your bottles to fill them? Why do you need to do so using the large hole? May I know how big are the holes you made for codling moth to enter? And I noticed you use 'he' for the moth... is it he or she? hehe :)
Great video as always. I need your advice please. I have a small plum tree I bough three years ago and this year I noticed the leaves are shiny and covered with sticky substance. Is is aphids doing this or something else. I value your guidance, you are definitely an expert. I live I Toronto and a big fan of your videos
@@StefanSobkowiak oh yeah that makes sense haha. Thank you Stefan! Did some grafting and trios this year and had some success! Thank you for the inspiration! Your DVD and videos have been a big help. Much love from NY
I am back watching this because it is spring in my country. The holes on the bottle look much bigger @1:37. You mentioned 1/4" holes are good enough but are you saying the diameter of the holes are just 1/4"? @1:25 the picture of the moth shows it's average length is 10mm, i assume it's the body length? How about its body width? As its body width determine if it can pass through the holes we make at the sides of the bottle right? Thanks so much again!
Correct. We originally made the holes too big and still have many of those traps which we use. Since then we've made them with the smaller holes, to trap less of other non target species.
thanks for posting, I use 2 or 4 L juice plastic containers. Do you find the molassis water mix catches Oriental Fruit Moth? OFM are devasting my peach trees. I have to pick the peaches before they go slightly soft.
My grandma always hung a bottle of beer with a few drops of dish soap from her handful of apple trees. Her apples were always perfectly untouched by bugs. Do you have any advice about pear saw flies? Last year was the first year I saw them and just picked them off by hand since I only have four young pear trees but they are getting bigger and it's going to be harder to find them all.
Dear Stefan, I excitedly rushed off last spring and made up your mixture, put it in a large 2litre milk container and hung it in my 4 year old Kidds Orange apple tree. It didn't work, though i might have the wrong diagnosis . . . all the new leaves shrivelled up (insects in the middle?), there were lots of brown spots in the flesh; the apples shape was smaller and distorted. I'm still struggling to know what to do to get a good crop of apples (sigh). Iona UK
Did not work for us either. The traps caught lots of insects (no bees, though so it is selective that way). Did not see any codling moths in the casualties, but every single one of the hundreds of apples were infected. Will resort to bagging fruit.
This trap is for codling moth larva, you can easily see them in the core of the apple if they are the culprit. Timing is important, install at petal drop. It does nothing to leaves (sounds like you have aphids due to excess fertilizer or imbalanced fertility). Not sure what the brown spots in the flesh were from in UK (here it often means you had hail and it left bruises). Add some wood chip mulch under the tree (it will absorb some of the excess fertility) and gather fallen fruit regularly.
would there be any benefit to adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar to the molasses and water mix, just to add some apple scent to help attract the moths?
I know it wouldn't be practical for you, but I read online a person said so spread worm castings around the trees. Seems to work to prevent the moths or larvae from going to the tree. I only have 4 apple trees so along with the molasses trick I might try that too. Any ideas if that might work?
How do you deal with plum curculio beetle? They have infected every apple on my tree. And my peach tree is damaged by peach tree borer. Im about to give up on having fruit trees in my garden. (fire blight took out my young pear tree)
Plum curculio is my final frontier. The last one I have not been trapping. There are large traps used for research for them but nothing small and inexpensive.
Hi Stefan, my two apple trees are only 4 years old and very short, about 70cm tall (2.5feet) and both are planted 1.5 feet apart). I am guessing one trap is sufficient but since they are so short, I can't figure out the upwind and downwind part. Can I just hang the trap on a random branch? Thanks.
Stefan, new subscriber here 👋 new at fruit trees. I have a semi dwarf yellow and semi dwarf red something. They are roughly 7' tall. The red grew a massive number of little apples so I thinned them way back, but the yellow only produced two and very few blossoms. (First year setting fruit since planted in 2021) Also my first experience with coddling moth damage. None of the fruit was salvageable. I only sprayed once not knowing what I was doing, and it was after all blossoms fell. I really want these trees to do well and I understand you have honey locust planted as a nitrogen fixer. My baby apple trees are approximately 20' apart. Can you recommend another nitrogen fixer tree that might survive planted between the two? Hubby isn't keen on anything with Locust in the name. We're in Eastern Washington 22 miles up from the Columbia River. If that helps. And thank you for any input. Loved this video and am getting ready to watch your others.
Wonderful you got started. I think alder are native to your area and can take heavy pruning. Sounds like the red might be a crab apple. Don’t worry about how quickly they will fruit, some can take 5 years. Look up my codling moth video for an easy trap. Put two per tree at petal fall and it should help. Add some bird feeders with sunflower seeds the birds will seek out wintering codling moth.
@@StefanSobkowiak thank you! Have been bringing in many birds but going to follow your suggestion of bird houses too, and include the cardboard trunk wrap for the climbers. Should I include the pastey goo that gets painted in, as well?
We live in the PNW and have plenty of Coddling Moths in our fruit trees (we only have two apple and two pear trees). Everything I've looked at says this is only the first step to treating the problem. Do you do anything else later in the season? And if so, can you give me a link to search for your other videos? (I just happened to find this, so not familiar yet).
If you trap next year it will reduce the population but it really takes 2 years to get the level down to low. You also will need to pick up the drops to prevent reinfection.
Thank you for the excellent video. I am going to try on my apple tree. I am not able to eat a single apple from my tree for last 4 years because of codling moth. Do you have any tips for peach curly leaf disease ?
Never had a worm in my fruit but will keep this in mind when I found one. To be honest it is so ugly to see those oil cans hanging between al these beautiful trees...
True not the nicest but a lot nicer than finding a whole lot of fruit with worms. Spraying insecticide is NOT an option. Tradeoffs. I guess I should plant more flowers to attract the eye.
I was thinking camouflage painting the unsightly oil containers since I like creative projects and don’t have many trees. Probably start with one to see if it’s worth the effort.
Time. After a few years the predators begin to use JB in their diet. Also a new predator has been introduced and it will keep it from exploding. May not be in your area yet, it will be.
@@StefanSobkowiak Okay. Great. I'm going to try some traps this year too. I need to get some allies as well. I'm thinking about doing some bird houses near the affected areas like you recommend.
