Apricot Trees

widdop · 27th March 2008, 05:37 AM

Hi we have Apricot trees that do fruit, but the fruit is inedible as it has holes in it which appear to be made by some sort of maggot or worm. The trees also have tiny black ants which seem to be taking sap from some stems.
We live in Crete Greece and have never grown this fruit before, but it is widely grown here. Hope you can help so we can enjoy our fruit.
Regards Robert.:

Sean Freeman · 27th March 2008, 05:55 AM

Hello Robert

, Crete eh? lovely, only got as fara as Greece but work for a friend in Gold Coast who spent 6 months in Crete she loved it.

Could you post some pics? There are numerous bugs it could be, pics would help narrow the field.

Ekka · 27th March 2008, 05:58 AM

I suspect fruit fly.

The ants are farming sap suckers, the sap suckers obviously suck sugars from the plant and then excrete honeydew which the ants harvest.

You can put a sticky band around the trunk (stops the ants but change frequently and dont strangle the tree), spray the tree with white oil to kill them sap suckers but the fruit fly, if it is that, mate you are in for a battle.

CDFA > PHPPS > PDEP > Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly) Pest Profile

And this is for you.

Quote:

To the same end, bait sprays or mass trapping
should be applied in and around hosts on which ßies
congregate, such as apricots in spring in northern
Greece. These practices may help to maintain a low
population level until autumn. Alternatively, eliminat-
ing early maturing hosts from the area entirely might
prevent breeding of the ßyearly in the season and may
hence reduce population densities later in the season.

From here. Seasonal and Annual Occurrence of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Northern Greece

27th March 2008, 05:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
widdop I'm new here so be nice Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Crete Posts: 1	Apricot Trees Hi we have Apricot trees that do fruit, but the fruit is inedible as it has holes in it which appear to be made by some sort of maggot or worm. The trees also have tiny black ants which seem to be taking sap from some stems. We live in Crete Greece and have never grown this fruit before, but it is widely grown here. Hope you can help so we can enjoy our fruit. Regards Robert.:

27th March 2008, 05:55 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sean Freeman PDF King & Arborist Extrodinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,795	Re: Apricot Trees Hello Robert , Crete eh? lovely, only got as fara as Greece but work for a friend in Gold Coast who spent 6 months in Crete she loved it. Could you post some pics? There are numerous bugs it could be, pics would help narrow the field. __________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran

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