PECAN NUT CASEBEARER

common names: Casebearer, Pecan Casebearer, Pecan Nut Casebearer<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

scientific name: Order Lepidoptera, family Pyralidae, Acrobasis nuxvorella

size: Adult--1/3" to 1/2"

identification: Adults are light gray moths that fly at night and hide in daylight. Holes and weblike material will be seen in the buds of pecans. Terminal shoots will wither and die. Larvae are white to pink at first, later olive gray to green.

biology and life cycle: Casebearers overwinter as small cocoons. The larvae become active about the time of bud break. They first feed on buds and then tunnel into the rapidly growing shoots. The larvae's entrance is marked with weblike material. Larvae of succeeding generations feed on nuts during the late spring and summer.

habitat: Pecan trees.

feeding habits: Damage is done in early spring, just after pollination.

economic importance: Damage to pecan crops can range from a very light thinning, 10 percent or so, to a loss of 80 or 90 percent of the entire crop.

natural control: Trichogramma wasps and other beneficial insects.

organic control: Bacillus thuringiensis sprays.

insight: See Trichogramma Wasp.

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