INSECT CONTROL RECIPE
Apple Maggot Control
A sticky red-ball trap fools apple maggot flies into thinking they've found ripe fruit, catching them before they lay eggs in your actual harvest.
Prep: 15 minutes
Yields: 4–6 traps
Organic-friendly
Ingredients
Red plastic balls or apples (2 1/2–3 inches wide)
Petroleum jelly or sticky tanglefoot coating
Wire or string for hanging
Popsicle stick for spreading
Instructions
1
Coat each red ball with a thick layer of petroleum jelly or sticky tanglefoot using the popsicle stick.
2
Hang the balls at eye level on the outer branches of apple trees, one trap per dwarf tree or several for larger trees.
3
Check weekly, scraping off trapped flies and reapplying sticky coating as needed.
4
Leave traps up through the fruiting season to keep intercepting new flies.
Tip: Hang traps about two weeks before fruit starts to ripen, and clean off caught flies every week or two so the trap stays effective.
