HOW TO NATURALLY KEEP CODLING MOTHS FROM YOUR FRUIT TREES AND HARVEST
Do you have fruit trees and hate to spray them with commercial chemicals? I’m with you! So today I thought I’d share with you an old Amish way to naturally keep the codling moth from destroying your fruit harvest.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- 1 clean gallon jug (water, or milk) per fruit tree
- Cut a window near the top in each jug (not to low you dont want the contents spilling out when the wind blows)
- In each jug add:
- 1 C apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 C molasses
- 1/2 tsp bleach or ammonia
- 2 C water
- Something to tie jugs to the tree. I recommend something sturdy (not string) that will last the entire season. An old T-shirt cut into 1” strips works well.
- If the mixture dries up you may need to replenish at some point in the season. Just keep watch of
You’ll need add the jugs along with the mixture to your trees immediately after the blooms are off the trees or just before the blooms fade. I was about a week late this year in hanging mine. You’ll just want to make sure and do it before the trees set fruit.
Tie them up in the tree as high as you can reach without getting out a ladder. One per tree is plenty. To my smaller trees I hang them from a stake or from the cage I have around the tree. I’m not sure if the weight is to much for immature trees so you can decide what you think is best.
All of my fruit trees that are new transplants, 3 years or under, have fencing around them. Mostly to keep me from hitting them with the lawn mower. I say the mower has a turtle setting and a rabbit setting and I take advantage of the rabbit setting at all times. Hence the need to keep my trees protected.
This should keep the Codling Moth from infesting your fruit the natural way. Give it a go and see how it works for you.
TIP: You can purchase new jugs at any grocery store that has the water refill station. That’s where I picked mine up from at 59 cents each.
