Codling Moth
Risk near you, next 48h
See whether your local forecast favours this disease right now.
When it strikes
Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Pick off the worst material, apply the organic option below, and look again after five to seven days. If the spread continued, escalate rather than repeating the same treatment.
Carried by insects
An insect moves it plant to plant, so controlling the carrier matters as much as treating the symptom. Check for the vector before assuming the plants infected each other directly.
Safe to compost
No pathogen carries over on this material, so it can go on an ordinary heap with the rest of the garden waste.
When and where to look
Scout the planting while temperatures hold between 15°C and 32°C.
Rule these out first
Same category, and at least one host crop in common — so they are genuinely confusable in the same part of the garden.
The signs that lead here
Full problem lists for these crops
About
The codling moth is the key pest of apples and pears worldwide; its larvae tunnel into the core of developing fruit, causing the classic 'wormy apple' and major harvest loss.
Symptoms
Small entry holes plugged with brown crumbly frass on fruit, tunnels bored to the core, premature fruit drop, and pinkish-white caterpillars inside.
Organic Treatment
Hang pheromone traps to monitor flights, bag individual fruit, apply codling moth granulosis virus or spinosad at egg hatch, and band trunks to catch larvae.
Chemical Treatment
Spinosad or insect growth regulators timed to egg hatch using degree-day or trap models; multiple generations need repeat sprays.
Prevention
Remove dropped and infested fruit promptly, scrape loose bark, use pheromone-based mating disruption, and time controls to monitored flights.
Crops at risk
Related problems
Codling Moth risk by location
Each location has a month-by-month profile computed from the weather archive: how many hours a year actually meet this disease’s thresholds.