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What's wrong with these apples? #811548

Asked September 20, 2022, 1:08 PM EDT

We just harvested 40 apples from a rather small honeycrisp tree planted in 2015. None are edible. We sprayed faithfully flowing the suggested schedule with Bonide Fruit Tree Spray. It was kept watered. The Zestar next to it did fairly well. It doesn't appear to be any king of insect damage. Do you have any ideas or suggestions to try next year? These were such disheartening results.

Stearns County Minnesota

Expert Response

Ouch! It’s so hard when you are expecting to have great apples to eat and find this instead.

It looks like you have apple maggots. I am attaching the posting on this from the University of Minnesota. Please read it over because it gives you several options to have years of enjoying fruit from your trees.

The Bonide Fruit Tree spray contains Carbaryl which is one of the recommended pesticides for apple maggot. You may want to try another next year that contains esfenvalerate or Spinoza. Bagging your apples is also a good option that many people are using. Guidance recommends sticky traps to check for when the flies are active. 

This year be sure to clean up all debris around the trees. It’s hard to say why one tree was less affected but clean up under both of them. 

Also, Honeycrsip is a biennial fruiting tree so it may not bear fruit next year. This has nothing to do with the apple maggots but may lessen their population the following year. Be sure to protect the Zestar.

https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/apple-maggot

I hope this helps.

Deb Reierson Replied September 22, 2022, 11:14 AM EDT
What a wonderful and detailed response.  Thank you so much!!!

On Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 10:14 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied September 22, 2022, 11:23 AM EDT

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