Origin:
The moth is a native of North America.
Biology:
This widespread moth is found throughout the United States and southern Canada. It feeds as a larva on a great many host plants, getting its common name from its attacks on apples, pears, and stone fruits such as cherry and peach. But it also feeds on other crops such as alfalfa, grapes, blueberries, walnuts, and onions and on many ornamentals such as elm, cedar, birch, lilac, and others, and is a major pest of oaks in many areas. There is a single generation each year with eggs overwintering and hatching in early spring to coincide with bud break on the host plants. Larvae feed on the tender, early leaves, often causing complete defoliation of the trees. Late stage larvae often roll an edge of a leaf and hold it together as a tube using silk, and then pupate within this tube. Adult moths emerge in late spring and may be present through July, although the live only 3 weeks in any region. Females then deposit their eggs in large masses on the branches or trunk and cover them with a cement-like coating.
Identification:
Adult moths have a wingspan of about ¾ inch. The forewings have a square shape to them with the outer margin at right angles to the leading edge of the wing. Forewings are generally tan in color but with greatly varying degrees of brown patches on them, in some cases nearly the entire wing brown and in other only 1 wide band running top to bottom as well as a second brown patch 2/3 of the way to the end of the wing. Overall the forewing has a somewhat shiny appearance. Larvae are small and green and up to 1 inch long when fully developed.
Characteristicts Important to Control:
Control is often with the use of insecticides sprayed over the foliage shortly after bud break and when the first signs of the larval feeding occur.
