What kind of spray should I use for cherry trees?

[ducks4you]

My two cherry trees are loaded with green cherries. We are only a few weeks away from harvest. I always have these little skinny black bugs, and some of them infest the cherries. Any recommendations for a spray to get rid of them? Thanks a bunch of cherries!!

 

[digitS']

Are they these beetles, Ducks' ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_curculio

Here's what U of Missouri says about sprays and a schedule: LINK.

At the greenhouses, I would pass beneath a lovely cherry tree on the way to and from work. I don't know, it must have had at least 10% of it's fruit inedible every year the owners did not commit to spraying it.

My big veggie garden is almost next door to a small cherry orchard. I'm afraid to ask what they use. I once asked an organic orchardist how he keeps the bugs out of his cherries. Must have caught him at a forthcoming moment! He said he sprays and sprays and sprays ...

Notice the spraying schedule on the .edu site. Spinosad on the UM list is encouraging to me. I have found lots of use for that stuff in recent years. I think it's fairly benign.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

I do not have the Plum curculio. Are the tiny black bugs called "scale?" That's what I have every year, and they get into my tomatoes, too.

 

[digitS']

Could they be aphids?

Scale attach themselves to branches.

I think that they are usually killed with horticultural oils. I've never had much trouble ... or, any trouble that I had to do something about, with scale.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I have killed scale with hort. oil. Can you get a picture Ducks?

I have some jobs with cherry trees. At one job they get sprayed, at another I know for sure they don't. If you just pop the unsprayed ones in your mouth you never notice (the little white worms inside). But you don't want to take a bite of half of it then look.
I don't know...the buggy ones taste fine to me. Hey, they've just been feeding on cherries right?

 

[ducks4you]

No, they also feed on vegetables and I don't think that they fly, just crawl. They are long and thin, have a hard shell and maybe they are 1/4 of an inch long. I'll try to get a picture, but I may have to defrost cherries from last year. I thew them in freezer bags--virtually NO HELP HARVESTING CHERRIES LAST YEAR!!!!!--and some of them got frozen. When I took out the pits and also removed the bugs before the pie. THUS, I'd like to get rid of them before the cherries come in in June.

 

[Jared77]

@ducks4you are you trying to manage it organically? Are you treating/spraying them with anything?

 

[digitS']

Ducks', I wonder if you are seeing thrips.

One-quarter inch might be a little big for them because they are small. The immature beetles might make you think of "plant lice" but that term is used usually for aphids. Yep, the little things really are beetles. Only the adults fly and, from what I read - it's the females eating the flower pollen and when most of us finally notice them.

The eggs are laid on living plants and there are "cherry thrips." The thing is, they are described as much smaller than 1/4" but maybe the larva is longer than the adults.

Edit: & flower thrips get on just about everything.

http://insect.pnwhandbooks.org/tree-fruit/cherry/cherry-thrips

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Nope, not thrips. I looked up images and they don't have a skinny tail that curls up. They have a hard exoskeleten and you can crush them. I also get them on my grapes.
I'll just have to take some good pictures and Probably buy and spray for 2017.