Phenology of plum curculio in North Carolina tree fruits

The plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), is a key pest of fruit trees in eastern North America.  In North Carolina, plum curculio has traditionally been managed with broad spectrum insecticide applied shortly after bloom. Tree fruit growers have seen a resurgence of this pest in recent years; due in part to IPM practices of using mating disruption and narrow-spectrum insecticides, many of which are ineffective against plum curculio. Additionally, this schedule may be inadequate in regions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains where plum curculio is multivoltine and where control of first generation adults in the summer is necessary.  There is little information available on the biology of the plum curculio in North Carolina tree fruits.  Different trap types used alone and baited with a combination of grandisoic acid and benzeldehyde were used to monitor adult populations.  Individuals that were collected at each site were dissected to monitor for ovarian development.  Fruit damage assessments were also conducted at each orchard to monitor the amount of feeding and oviposition damage.  Degree-day accumulations was used in conjunction with adult trapping results to follow population development and damage in apples.  This project focuses on monitoring the development and damage of plum curculio at varying elevations within the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont regions of North Carolina, with the goal of better understanding voltinism and damage inflicted by different generations.