Cotesia congregata and other Braconidae
Braconid wasps- Kind
- Wild — attract it
- Best for
- Wild Macrocentrus wasp parasitises the larvae; 80–90% by late summer on unsprayed trees
Pest
Oriental fruit moth
Grapholita molesta
The short answer
A small, salt-and-pepper grey moth whose larvae bore into the growing tips of peaches and nectarines in spring, making them wilt and die ("flagging"), and into the fruit later in the season. It also attacks apple, plum, cherry, apricot, pear, quince and rose. Commercial orchards control it with pheromone mating disruption, but the University of Kentucky recommends that only for orchards of 5 acres or more. In a backyard, watching for wilted shoots in spring, hanging a single pheromone trap and spraying at petal fall only if it catches moths (the University of Kentucky's backyard advice) are what is left; a braconid wasp that parasitises it can be very effective where trees are not sprayed with broad-spectrum insecticides.
hero · wilted peach shoot tip with frass at the entry hole
A peach shoot "flagging" after an oriental fruit moth larva bored into it. Photo: pending.
Identification
The adult is small: about ¼ inch long according to NC State, Washington State and Kentucky, though UC IPM gives 0.4 inch, with grey to charcoal wings marked with faint light and dark bands that give a salt-and-pepper look. It flies in the evening, just after sunset. The eggs are flat, white to creamy discs about 1/32 inch (0.7–0.8 mm) across, laid mostly on leaves.
Young larvae are white with a black head; full grown they are pink to creamy white with a brown head and ⅜–½ inch long. They look almost identical to codling moth larvae. The difference is an anal comb — a small toothed plate under the last segment — that UC IPM checks with a hand lens and NC State says needs a microscope. UC IPM uses the comb to separate it from codling moth and other larvae that tunnel in stone fruit. Flagged peach shoot tips in spring are the easier clue, because the early generations feed in shoots.
Easily confused with
- Codling mothAlso a pestA near-identical pinkish-white larva in fruit, but with no anal comb under the last segment. Check with a hand lens.
Damage symptoms
The damage changes through the season. The first one or two generations feed in shoots, and the later ones in fruit. The University of Kentucky says the second and third generations do most of the damage, and Washington State that most injured fruit comes from the third and fourth.
- Shoot tips that wilt, droop and die back in spring, sometimes with gummy ooze
- Stunted young trees after repeated shoot damage
- Holes in the fruit, often at the stem end, with gum and brown, sawdust-like frass
- Larvae that bore to the centre and feed around the pit (UC IPM); NC State notes the tunnels often wander and do not usually reach the core
- Fruit that drops early
Lifecycle & degree days
Oriental fruit moth overwinters as a full-grown larva in a cocoon on the trunk or in debris, pupates in early spring, and the first moths fly around peach bloom — February or early March in California, mid-March to early April in the Southeast. Its development thresholds differ from codling moth's, so the two need separate degree-day models. The degree-day figures are Washington State's.
- Thresholds
- Lower 45 °F / 7 °C, upper 90 °F / 32 °C
- Per generation
- About 1,000 degree days (°F)
- Generations / yr
- 3–4 in Washington; 4–5 in the Southeast; 5–6 in California; up to 6–7 in Kentucky
- First flight
- Around peach bloom
- Overwinters
- Full-grown larvae in cocoons on bark or in debris
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Host crops
Peach and nectarine are the main hosts. Washington State lists quince, apricot, apple, plum, cherry, pear, rose and flowering cherry as secondary hosts, and the University of Kentucky includes rose.
Monitoring & action thresholds
Action threshold
No home-garden threshold
Extension sources give no numeric threshold for home trees. Commercial programmes are set by trap catches and degree days (the University of Kentucky uses 7 moths per trap per week); for backyard trees it advises a single trap and a petal-fall spray only if moths are caught. UC IPM notes that shoot damage matters mainly as a sign that later generations may attack the fruit.
In spring, walk round the tree and look for wilted shoot tips; UC IPM checks for shoot strikes in late April, mid-June and mid-July. An oriental fruit moth pheromone trap hung just before bloom shows when each flight starts. The University of Kentucky times sprays about 6 days after the peak of the first flight and about 3 days after later peaks. Commercial models count degree days from biofix, the date the first moth is caught in a trap.
Beneficial
Biological control
The braconid wasp Macrocentrus ancylivorus lays its eggs in young oriental fruit moth larvae. UC IPM reports that 80–90% of larvae are commonly parasitised by August or September on trees not sprayed with persistent, broad-spectrum insecticides, and that a small plot (0.3–0.5 acre) of sunflowers within 25–50 feet of an orchard gives the wasp an overwintering host. Madex HP, a codling moth granulovirus, is also labelled for oriental fruit moth, although we found no extension trial of it in home plantings. Egg-parasitoid Trichogramma wasps are sometimes suggested, but no source we checked supports them for this pest.
Betabaculovirus cypomonellae (Cydia pomonella granulovirus)
Codling moth granulovirus- Rate
- Label rate — Cyd-X 1 tsp per 5 gal of water; Madex HP ½ tsp per 5 gal (homeowner labels)
- Best for
- Madex HP label; spray as eggs hatch, at least twice per generation, renewed after 6–8 sunny days
Cultural controls
The commercial answer, pheromone mating disruption, does not scale down to a few trees: the University of Kentucky recommends it only for orchards of 5 acres or more. What a backyard grower can do is simpler.
- Check trees regularly in early spring for wilted shoots; they show the moth is present and later generations may attack the fruit
- Hang a pheromone trap just before bloom to see when the flights start, and time any spray to them
- Avoid broad-spectrum insecticide sprays that kill the parasitic wasps; UC IPM notes that esfenvalerate can cause outbreaks of secondary pests
Chemical, last resort
Time any spray to the moth flight — a larva inside a shoot or fruit is out of reach. Never spray spinosad or esfenvalerate on, or let it drift onto, flowering plants (bees). UC IPM notes the effective insecticides for this pest are available only to professional applicators in California.Check any product before it goes on. Open the compatibility matrix →
- Codling moth granulovirus (Madex HP)REI 4 h
- SpinosadREI 4 h
- EsfenvalerateREI 12 h
Rating: the effect on this pest's natural enemies if a spray hits them or they feed on treated plants. REI is the re-entry interval on farm and greenhouse labels; home labels usually give none, so follow the label.
Sources
UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Peach — Oriental Fruit Moth (UC ANR 3454, text 03/24)
UC IPM, Relative Toxicities of Insecticides Used in Peaches to Natural Enemies (09/15)
Univ. of Kentucky ENTFACT-212, Oriental Fruit Moth (Bessin, rev. 1/26)
NC State Extension, Oriental Fruit Moth (Walgenbach, 2015)
WSU Tree Fruit, Oriental Fruit Moth (Brunner & Rice, 1993)
Madex HP master label, EPA Reg. 69553-1 (EPA-stamped 2026-09)
Page status
Drafted from the sources below, then checked claim by claim against those sources on 23 September 2026.
Suggest a correction →Oriental fruit moth by crop
The same pest behaves differently on different hosts. Each page below gives the host-specific control, rate and threshold.