During a recent visit to a Hawkes Bay summerfruit orchard (29 Oct), I was alerted to the presence of significant numbers of Carpophilus beetles in the traps (as shown below) around a cherry block. Both the orchardist and I were a little surprised at the numbers caught.
Some of the key points in the SummerGreen manual on the portal include:
- They prefer moist conditions – and there was about 100mm of rain 14 days ago.
- Beetles will fly when temperatures are above 22˚C and temperatures of that sort of level are being recorded already with 30˚C predicted for Sunday!
- Thinnings can be a food source, so consider mulching post thinning.
- They are attracted to ripening fruit, and harvest is about two weeks away on the earliest of the early cherries.
We had a SummerGreen meeting in the winter with Carpophilus as the main discussion point. Traps at sufficient density were seen as a good control method as long as they are put out early enough in the season.
Here we go again.