At Philips Fruittuin, this year there are no apple-picking days. Instead, they will have a pear-picking day! The apple blossom beetle and the larvae of the codling moth together destroyed the entire apple harvest of the Philips Fittuin. Owner Carlos Faes wonders: “How is this possible?”
“It’s almost unbelievable. There are so many of them,” says owner Carlos Faes. The larva of the codling moth caused major damage to the apples of the Philips Fruittuin this year. The larva crawls into the apple and eats the pips. “I don’t understand how this could happen. We did everything we could to prevent it. The pheromone confusion hung in time.” Pheromone confusion is a commonly used technique among fruit growers. The technique prevents codling moths from mating. Faes: “We have been working with the confusion technique for years. Now we have actually been let down.”
Insects
It wasn’t just the larvae that caused damage to the apples. In the spring, the fruit garden also suffered from the apple blossom beetle. Faes: “The apple blossom beetle is a nationwide problem. The beetle eats the blossoms of apple trees. This causes no or misshapen apples to grow. So that was already a big blow to us, but now the codling moth larva is coming on top of that.” How the larvae were able to do so much damage this year is a complete mystery to owner Carlos. A study at Wageningen University should shed some light on that.
Pear picking days
It is for the second time in the history of the Philips Fruit Garden, the apple-picking days will not take place. In 2017, the picking was also canceled once because the blossoms had frozen to pieces. “We don’t want people to take home apples with larvae,” says the disappointed owner.
A small consolation for the families who have made apple-picking an annual outing: the pear-picking days will continue.
They have remained almost entirely larva-free.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Chaitali Sengupta
