Treatment of the worm in apricots (anarsia)

June 16, 2022 24 Comments

How do we protect apricots in an ecological way to enjoy worm-free apricots?

Every year we long to taste the delicious fruits of the apricot tree and many times we do not manage to eat a single apricot. This happens because some worms appear in the apricots during the spring and summer, which destroy the fruits.

The «worming» of apricots is mainly caused by the anarsia insect, a small dark-gray butterfly that attacks the foliage and fruits.

Uprooting is one of the most important problems in apricot cultivation for both professional growers and amateurs who have an apricot tree at home.

In addition to the apricot crop, it also attacks the peach crop, the almond crop and, secondarily, other fruit trees such as the apple crop, the plum crop, the cherry crop and the pear crop.

In today’s article we will refer in detail to the anarsia insect, what damage it causes to apricots and in what ways the biological treatment is carried out so that we can enjoy wonderful apricots from our garden without worms.

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What damage do mealybugs do to apricots?

Anarsia occurs every year in the apricot crop. The caterpillar, i.e. worm of the anarsia insect, is chocolate or brown-red in color with distinct rings.

Initially, in the spring, anarzia attacks the tender young shoots of the apricot tree, creating galleries along the shoots, causing the top part of the shoots to wither and drop.

In late spring, the caterpillar of the insect also attacks the green unripe fruits by damaging the outside of the fruit, mainly near the fruit pedicel.

The attack of anarsia continues in the summer season inside the affected shoots, but also inside the ripe fruits. At this stage, it is strongly noticed by eating the flesh of the apricots, which makes the apricots unfit for eating, resulting in the destruction of the production.

How is the biological control of anarsia?

In order to be able to deal with the anarsia worms that appear in apricots in an ecological way, we will need to make a complete spraying plan, in three phases, first in the winter period, then in the spring period and in a third phase in the summer period .

1. Winter sprays to limit uprooting

The winter sprays aim to limit the populations of the anarsia insect that remain in the winter period on the apricot tree.

To deal with anarsia at a preventive level, we spray the apricots with ecological preparations such as calcium sulphide and summer pulp, in order to reduce the risk of anarsia attacks in the spring period.

What is summer pulp and how is it used in plants

2. Spring sprays to deal with anarsia

During the spring season, we spray the apricot trees, at regular intervals, with biological insecticides such as the Thuringian bacillus and natural pyrethrin that we obtain from agricultural stores.

The application of the sprays should be done every 2 weeks when high populations of the insect affecting the top vegetation of the apricot are observed.

How we use Thuringia bacillus for plant protection

3. Summer sprays to combat anarsia

During the summer season, it is important to make 1-2 last sprays of the apricot trees with natural pyrethrin or with Thuringia bacillus, during the sensitive stage when the fruits are ripening, depending on the variety of apricot we are growing.

With these last sprays, we protect the apricots from the entrance of the caterpillar inside the fruits to be able to consume them.

10 natural and organic insecticides for plants and crops

And a secret about worms in apricots

We must note that worms in the apricot fruits can also be caused by the fruit boll insect which affects the apricots secondarily and creates corresponding problems. The ecological treatment that we propose for anarsia also covers the treatment of fruit rot.

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