What to Do When Pests Infest a Peach Tree Trunk? A Detailed Guide to Prevention and Control Methods
Peaches are a fruit that many people enjoy, and the peach tree is also a fruit tree with relatively high economic value, but peach trees may become infested with pests during their growth. So what should you do when pests infest a peach tree trunk?
1. What to do when pests infest a peach tree trunk?
Before the peach tree buds, evenly scatter the medicated fertilizer “Sachong'an” on the roots, then water thoroughly. This effectively controls many pests such as the peach aphid, hawthorn red spider mite, tea bug, scale insect and red-necked longhorn beetle. A single application provides highly effective control of all kinds of pests occurring on peach trees for more than half a year, with no need for multiple pesticides and no need for frequent spraying. It truly achieves highly efficient pest control, saving labor, time and effort, and is safe for the fruit.
2. Common pests of peach trees
1. Peach aphid: Adults and nymphs gather on the underside of leaves. Damaged leaves curl longitudinally from the leaf margin toward the underside, the tissue becomes thickened and loses its green color, and the pests excrete honeydew that contaminates the branches and leaves, inhibiting new shoot growth and causing leaf drop.
Generally more than 20 generations occur per year. They overwinter as eggs on peach trees, or wingless parthenogenetic females overwinter on windbreak spinach or, along with cruciferous vegetables, in vegetable cellars. For those overwintering as eggs on peach trees, the eggs begin to hatch the following early spring from peach bud break to the flowering stage, gathering on tender buds to suck sap. From late March to April, they reproduce and cause damage by parthenogenetic viviparity.
2. Hawthorn red spider mite: 5-9 generations occur per year, overwintering as female adults in the cracks of rough bark and in the soil near the trunk, in dead leaves and in weeds. In early April, at the end of the peach flowering period, they emerge from overwintering and damage the new tender growth. They lay eggs after the full bloom period, and the eggs finish hatching after petal fall.
One month after petal fall is the peak hatching period of the second-generation eggs. After June, with high temperatures, they reproduce quickly, generations overlap, and damage is severe, often causing massive leaf drop. Overwintering females continue to appear successively until September and lie dormant to overwinter.
3. Tea bug: Adults and nymphs suck the sap of tender fruit, tender leaves and tender shoots. After the fruit is damaged, it becomes an unevenly shaped deformed fruit, and the flesh at the damaged site becomes hollow and corky. After peach fruit is damaged, gum flows from the puncture site, the flesh sinks and forms hard, stiff spots. Young fruit often drops after being damaged, greatly affecting yield and quality.
They overwinter as adults in the cracks of eaves and stone crevices under village house eaves, begin emerging from overwintering in late April of the following year, and fly to peach orchards to cause damage. In June they lay eggs on the underside of leaves; the egg stage is about 10 days. Hatching begins in late July, and they gather near the egg masses to cause damage, then gradually disperse. In July and August they begin to emerge as adults, causing damage until September, when they seek suitable places to overwinter.
4. Scale insect: Scale insects attach themselves and pierce and suck the host's sap as nymphs and adults. The population is especially large; some completely cover the bark, overlapping in layers and forming an uneven grayish-white waxy substance. They discharge sticky fluid that contaminates the tree body, making it look oily. Damaged branches develop poorly, and in severe cases the entire branch or whole plant dies. Branches 2-3 years old suffer the most severe damage.
They begin laying eggs in late April of the following year. The eggs are laid beneath the scale, and after laying, the female shrinks and dies. Nymphs begin to hatch in early May. After crawling out from under the mother's scale, the nymphs crawl everywhere on the branches and trunk. After a few days they become fixed and immobile and begin to secrete waxy filaments. After molting they form a scale, and insert their mouthparts under the bark to suck sap. After the second molt, females become adults and remain immobile under the scale, sucking sap, while after the second molt, males become pupae, densely packed in patches on the branches and trunk. In mid-June the first-generation adults begin to emerge. Egg laying begins in late June.
5. Red-necked longhorn beetle: It overwinters as larvae in tunnels in the trunk, resumes activity in March-April of the following year, drills irregular tunnels beneath the cortex and in the xylem, and discharges large amounts of reddish-brown frass and debris out of the boreholes, piling up outside the holes and on the ground at the base of the trunk. Damage is most severe in May and June, and in serious cases the entire trunk is hollowed out and the tree dies. After the larvae mature, they open an exit hole for frass to the outside, use secretions to bind frass and wood shavings, and make a cocoon in the tunnel to pupate. In June and July, adults emerge, bite through the hole and crawl out, mate and lay eggs in the rough bark crevices at the base of the tree and at the crotches of the main branches. After the larvae hatch, they first feed beneath the bark, then undergo diapause to pass the winter. The following spring they continue feeding on the cortex, and by July-August they bore upward into the xylem, forming curved tunnels. After another winter, by May-June of the third year they mature and pupate, then emerge as adults.