Plum Bud Gall Mites
As noted in the
Plum Bud Gall Mite (PBGM) Fact Sheet, this is a fairly new pest in California,.
The CDFA provides additional information in their B pest rating summary. The Santa Clara County Department of Agriculture doesn’t require residents to report that they have PBGM anymore. Their advice as of December 2024:- If a resident has PBGM, cut it out, put it in a plastic bag or cover it with a tarp, and solarize it before opening the bag or uncovering and putting the green waste in their city collection bin. Solarization recommendations for the invasive shothole borer can be used.
- As far as treatments go, constant monitoring of trees is required. When the crawlers emerge, that’s when you can spray with an insecticidal oil to kill them.
- If sharing budwood, only share if there are no mites on the property.
Note that UC advocates using the Integrated Pest Management Process (IPM) for dealing with garden pests. The process provides a balanced approach between managing pests and caring for the environment. It starts with identifying which pests are present, how many there are, and what damage they’ve caused. Once that’s known, a decision can be made as to whether to take any action and, if so, what to do.
A central tenet of IPM is that when action is taken, one should choose the least toxic path that will be effective. This does not mean pesticides will not be used, but only that they will be the last choice in progressing from least to most toxic solutions.
For this reason, we would advocate keeping an eye on your tree(s), but not taking action as long as the tree seems healthy and is bearing fruit.
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