Scaffolds 00 index

(Art Agnello ama4@nysaes.cornell.edu, Entomology, Geneva)

Before and during apple harvest in recent years, a number of growers and fieldmen have been unpleasantly surprised by the appearance of neat little (2 mm) holes bored into the side of their fruit, similar in appearance to those caused by a stem puncture. Although graders sometimes attribute this damage to apple maggot or European corn borer, cutting open these apples reveals a bright green worm with a light brown head, not feeding but lying inactive, in the burrow extending in from each hole. These are larvae of the dock sawfly, Ametastegia glabrata, a highly sporadic but nonetheless well documented apple pest that has been known to show up in our area since 1908.

DOCK SAWFLY

Dock sawfly probably confines its feeding almost entirely to plants belonging to the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), including numerous docks and sorrels, the knotweeds and bindweeds, or else wild buckwheat or alfalfa. In feeding on any of these plants, the larvae devour the leaf tissue and the smaller veins, eating out irregular holes in the leaves. Ordinarily, the midribs and the larger veins are untouched. This insect should not be confused with the related European apple sawfly, Hoplocampa testudinea, which has a whitish larva that lives and feeds in young apples, particularly prevalent in the eastern apple regions of N.Y.

Injury to apples by the dock sawfly is known to occur only in the late summer and early fall, when the fruit is approaching maturity and the sawfly is searching for an overwintering site. The greater hardness of immature apples probably deters the larvae from burrowing into these, so although 4 generations per year have been identified, only the last is of concern to apple growers. The injury to apples consists externally of the small round holes bored by the larvae, which after a few days show a slightly sunken, brownish ring around them and occasionally may be surrounded by a larger discolored halo. These holes may occur anywhere on the surface, but are most numerous around the calyx and stem ends, or at a point where the apple touches a leaf or another apple, since it is easier for the larva to obtain a foothold here. Inside, the injury is usually more serious, since the larva often burrows to the core and usually hollows out a pupal cell somewhat larger than itself. Apples may have three or four, or sometimes even eight, holes in them of varying depths, but contain only one or two worms.

DOCK SAWFLY DAMAGE

Since the dock sawfly does not feed upon any part of the apple tree, but must live on the above-mentioned succulent weeds, it becomes an apple pest only where these plants are growing in or around the orchard. There is little danger from this insect in orchards where the food plants don't exist. Likewise, the possibility of the larvae coming into the orchard from neighboring meadows, ditch banks, or roadsides is slight, for the larvae are incapable of finding their way over any extent of bare soil. The adults, though active, are not strong fliers, and it is not possible for the insect to travel far in this stage. Now would be a good time to assess the weed situation in your orchard and make plans for such selective herbicide applications as may be appropriate regarding this insect. Even though common wisdom says this sawfly is a pest only every 10-12 years, this is only an average estimation, and it's not a bad idea to anticipate the unexpected when hardly any season is considered to be "average".

(Information adapted from Newcomer, E. J. 1916. The dock false-worm: An apple pest. USDA Bull. 265, 40 pp.)

>7.31 General