Control of Apple MaggotĪpple maggot must be controlled in the adult stage prior to the deposition of eggs in fruit, therefore, contact insecticides are required for good crop protection. If an orchard is not in a quarantine area but an apple maggot is detected within 0.5 miles, the orchard is considered “threatened” and monitoring or control actions should be instituted and the orchard will need to be inspected by WSDA.
If an orchard is in a quarantined area that orchard is considered threatened by apple maggot and the orchard must be inspected (in orchard or packing house) by WSDA before the crop can be sold. However, over time apple maggot has spread, primarily due to human activity moving infested fruit, and now 20 counties and parts of two other counties are listed as infested (see information here for specific information on counties impacted by the apple maggot quarantine). Initially, its distribution was restricted to urban and native habitats in Clark and Spokane Counties. The apple maggot was first detected in Washington in the early 1980s. Go to Orchard Pest Management Online for more information on apple maggot and to see images. In warm years some flies can complete development and emerge as a partial second generation. Most apple maggot pupae remain in the soil for one winter, though a few may remain there for two or more years. Full-grown larvae leave the fruit and enter the soil to pupate. Temperatures and fruit hardness influence the rate of development and survivorship of larvae.
Typically larvae complete development in about 30 days. The larvae (maggots) feed while tunneling through the fruit flesh. Eggs hatch in 3 to 10 days depending on temperatures. A single female can lay between 300 and 500 eggs over her lifetime, which can last 30 or more days. After mating females lay eggs just under the skin of the host fruit. After emerging, the adult apple maggot feeds for 7 to 10 days until it is sexually mature. Apple maggot flies continue to emerge from the soil throughout the summer and can be active until October. In late June or early July, adults begin to emerge from the soil. Apple maggot spends winter in the soil as a pupa.
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