What's eating my malus 'profusion'?

Malus 'Profusion' attracts the standard ornamental apple pest complex: woolly aphid colonises bark and shoots, winter moth caterpillars eat buds, and codling moth tunnels into fruit. Birds (starlings, waxwings) strip the small crab apples in autumn. Woolly aphid is the most persistent structural threat to this cultivar.

Fluffy white masses on stems and pruning wounds; causes bark swellings (galls) that split and allow canker to enter. Brush out colonies physically; spray with plant oil-based insecticide targeting active crawlers in spring and early summer.

Larvae feast on opening buds and young leaves in spring; heavy infestations cause near-total defoliation by May. Apply grease bands in October. Use spinosad or pyrethrin spray if caterpillars are numerous in April.

Larvae mine through fruit flesh to the core, leaving an exit tunnel and causing premature drop of small crab apples. Hang pheromone traps from late May. Apply codling moth granulovirus at egg hatch for organic control.