Codling Moth Trap

 I have inherited two old apple trees in my new garden.  They are covered in blossom at the moment, even after a first pruning a couple of weeks ago to bring them under control.  I thought I would try to control the number of maggots in the apples when they crop, so the timing of a codling moth trap is important.

 Over the past May Bank holiday weekend in the UK we have had some unprecedented hot weather here and the nights have been warm too.  The bees were busy pollinating the flowers and nearly all of them have now gone over and the petals have started to drop.

 The instructions state that the normal time that the moths fly and attack the apples is during warm nights in mid to late May, but it does mention exceptionally warm weather may encourage them to come out earlier, so I decided to put the trap out now.

 A little rubber plug has been impregnated with the scent of a female codling moth.  All the little  Boy moths fly around looking to get lucky, smell a willing Female moth inside the trap... fly in... and get stuck on the sticky card.  I will keep checking over the next days and weeks to see if anything flies in.

The trap is hung in the trees at head hight, it is effective for an area of about 15 metres (50 feet) of the trap and should last about 5 weeks before a second pheromone lure and another sticky mat is replaced.  This takes me up to the beginning of July when I will replace it for another 5 weeks.   What I am going to do with tons and tons of eating apples this Autumn is on my mind now.  Perhaps I could buy a small press?  Make apple juice or cider?...