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My apple trees are infested with woodlice and despite what everyone says, woodlice love apples and are systematically destroying my crop. Any ideas how to control them?

Thanks for the answers

Woodlice are eating the apples and doing so without any help making holes in the skin. They attack the top of the apple and it seems that they are able to squeeze into the small gap between apple and tree, or two apples close together and this gives them the purchase to make a hole, after which they all pile in and destroy the apple.
I have now wrapped the trunk of the tree with a strip of polythene sealed top and bottom with Gaffa tape - hopefully this will stop them climbing the tree as it will be difficult to grip!




Answers

 

Something else must be making the holes for the woodlice to get in through the skin. We have problems with blackbirds pecking holes in our apples. then all sorts of pests from woodlice to earwigs get inside the damaged fruit.
To stop the original damage I fly a cut out sparrow hawk silhouette near the trees and that seems to work.
Wasps also can and do damage the fruit, not a lot you can do about that though, except find and destroy the wasps nest.

5 Aug, 2012

 

As I said somewhere else it is the year of the wood louse.
They like little holes and dark damp places and wallow in my compost heap and under pots. They are not baddies.
Just irritating. Every one of natures creatures loves an apple, as well as us gardeners. As an apple tree person for nearly 50 years one sometimes has to share.....sighs.

5 Aug, 2012

 

I only wish i had apples this year to share with the beasties. We had about 6 apples between 3 trees, and the crows have been down and eaten 3 of them . Oh well theres always next year !!

5 Aug, 2012

 

Apples and pears are some of the most teasing plants a Gardener can try to grow. There are so many creatures and conditions that come along to affect the crop. There is a saying that pears are for heirs. Cannot think of anything that rhymes with apples.

5 Aug, 2012

 

You can't keep creatures that make holes in the SKIN of apples away from apples. There are ants moving about on most fruit trees/aphids/bees/wasps/woodlice/birds/earwigs. Even snails go high up one of my taller apples. Winter moth goes insde and leaves via a hole that other creatures use to dine off the sweetness they seek for energy. Dwarf Apples/pears in small gardens are for their blossom and decoration, and you might get to eat some lovely tasty fruit, if you are lucky.

6 Aug, 2012

 

We have had fruit trees in all our gardens for the last 40 odd years and have always had good fruit. Here with a little more room we get a crop big enough to keep me in Apples for 12 months of the year, no trouble. And believe me I eat a lot of Apples. In a good season we also get enough to juice for Winter consumption too.
Nor do we normally spray except with Copper sulphate for Apple/Pear Scab. The Pheromone traps help keep Codlin moth down to an acceptable level.

6 Aug, 2012

 

When we had large orchard an unmentionable number of years ago we got pears sufficient to feed an army. Once trees are large they mostly shrug off pests. Our dwarf trees in a cottage garden setting need a lot more codling to get a decent crop. This year pretty good last year very poor due to extreme dry weather and a visitation from tent caterpillars while we were away.....can't win.

6 Aug, 2012

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