. Bulletin - Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. Agriculture -- Massachusetts. THE BEACH PLUM 11. The plum curculio {Conotrachelus nenuphar) is a small snout beetle about 1 5 inch long, very closely resembling the plum gouger, but slightly larger. It can be distinguished from the plum gouger by the presence of humps on its back. Also, it can fold its snout back under its body, a trick the gouger cannot per- form. The egg-laying punc- tures are cjuite distincti\e. The gouger makes a single round hole; the curculio a hole with a crescent-shaped cut around it resembling" a crescen
. Bulletin - Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. Agriculture -- Massachusetts. THE BEACH PLUM 11. The plum curculio {Conotrachelus nenuphar) is a small snout beetle about 1 5 inch long, very closely resembling the plum gouger, but slightly larger. It can be distinguished from the plum gouger by the presence of humps on its back. Also, it can fold its snout back under its body, a trick the gouger cannot per- form. The egg-laying punc- tures are cjuite distincti\e. The gouger makes a single round hole; the curculio a hole with a crescent-shaped cut around it resembling" a crescent and star, from which it gets the nickname "Little ; The curculio passes the winter in the adult stage under stones, leaves, and other plant debris. It comes out of hibernation about blossom time, somewhat later than the gouger, and be- comes active about the time of the shuck spray or a little later, depending largely on temperature. If the temperature reaches 75" on two or three successive days at about shuck time, the curculio becomes very active. The female lays her eggs under the skin of the small fruits. The larvae hatch in about a week and feed on the flesh. Such infested fruits drop prematurely. After feeding in the plum about two weeks, the larvae leave and burrow into the soil where they pupate and change to the adult. Four weeks after the larvae enter the soil, the adults emerge with ravenous appetites. They usually lay no eggs but feed on the fruit until cold weather comes, when they hibernate. The curculio can be controlled by thorough applications of lead arsenate at the proper time. Figure 10. Plum Curculio Beetles. Notice the pattern on the back, particularly the humps. Diseases Plum pockets or plum bladders (Fig. 11) is probably the worst disease of beach plums. It is very troublesome in the coastal regions of the state where it attacks both wild and cultivated plums, and damage is often extremely heavy. It seldom appears in other parts of
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