Apples and Codling Moth.

[GF3]

Do you find that codling moths have "favorite varieties" of apples to attack? I ask because this year (The first year I have had apples on 5 diffrent trees) codling moth seem to have decided to go for the Lord Lambourne. This year it had about 35 - 40 apples after the end of June and I would say 30 - 35% have been infected. The Baya Marisa (aka Tickled Pink) still has about 35 apples on it - not one shows any sign of attack from codling moth. The same for the Red Delicious 21 apples - no sign. Katy - had just one big apple, but perfect condition. Bardsey - Five large apples (thinned down from 15 in July) no sign of attack.

[Jungle Jane]

I think they do but if you got rid of those trees they’d have the others,they must smell more attractive at the time they emerge I don’t know,I’ve never had moth damage on my apples so my apples are probably horrible hahaha they’re not really

[ameno]

I do certainly find some varieties are more heavily attacked than others.
I feel like it has less to do with variety, per se, though, and more to do with earliness or lateness.
The adult moths are only on the wing for a fairly short period, and I think they prefer to lay their eggs on fruit of a certain size/maturity. So if you have different varieties that are ready at different times then naturally the apples will be at different stages of maturity, and so the moths will target preferentially the one which is at the stage they prefer.

[smallblueplanet]

Last year for the first time we had lots of moth damage, nearly every apple on our small grafted tree had fruit with infestation.
So previously we've not had to think about pest control, so what is the best and most environmentally friendly way of dealing with them?
I read that moth traps are to show if there is an infestation and then you spray the tree, but I'm not keen on spraying stuff as we grow mostly organically.

[FB.]

Yes, codling moths have favourite varieties, often preferring sweet, tasty, colourful, scented, thin-skinned August-September eating apples.

But when they run out of their favourite apples they'll start to attack other apples, but again with an order of preference.

Prolonged hot, dry weather seems to greatly increase codling attacks.

Codling are difficult to control without chemicals. The best non-chemical way is to grow a mixture of apple varieties and accept that some varieties will lose almost all their fruit to codling but other varieties less desirable to codling might be spared.