Victoria plum tree disease - maggots

[EileenR]

My 3 year old victoria plum tree is laden with fruit but each plum has a maggot inside and black stuff. Does anyone know what I should do for next year? I assume it is too late for this year.

[rustylady]

It's not a disease Eileen, it's plum moth Plum moth / Royal Horticultural Society

By the way, welcome to the Vine.

[Kirk]

Sounds like Plum Moth?
Little pink maggots, darker head ??

The "fix" appears to be to hang pheremone traps to trap the moths before they lay eggs. Meaning that some will still lay eggs but the idea is not as many.

Doesn't seem to be much alternatives mentioned, such as a spray.

Reads that later fruit may escape but with the weather this year most things seem out of step with the "normal" times.

[FB.]

Planting more than one variety of the same species often helps because the pests tend to prefer one over the other, resulting in one tree being decimated but the other tree remaining mostly unaffected.

Although apples and plums have different types of maggots, my experience with apples has shown that the apple varieties "Scrumptious" "Ellison's Orange" and "Discovery" are excellent for baiting the apple maggots away from other apple trees. My Beauty of Bath, Irish Peach and Laxton's Epicure are rarely touched as long as the maggots have plenty of Discovery to attack.

Fruits which ripen during August tend to be the worst affected because the maggots thrive in the warmth of summer and will be attracted to fruits ripening at that time. Fruits which ripen in October tend to be less affected.