Walnuts will be a real luxury item this year

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 09. 26. 08:46

The walnut borer flies identified in the fall of 2011 in our country are not idle this year, as in previous years. The harmful effects of these insects have been a serious headache for garden owners for years, as the borers not only threaten the health of the trees, but due to the damage they cause, there is less and less quality stone fruit, which also affects retail pricing.

There will be Hungarian walnuts, but at a brutal price

This species of fly was first identified in Hungary in 2011, but due to the fact that it is an “invasive” species, it quickly spread in many areas of our country, so it is currently present in all major nut-producing areas of the country. The fly is monogamous and overwinters as a pupa. Females deposit their eggs in the fresh green husk of the fruit of the nut. After 10-12 days, there will be a small dark discoloration at the site of egg-laying, and then, as the larvae feed, sunken spots appear on the nut shell. In this case, the nut starts to rot and can dry on the nut. In this case, the nut casing becomes unusable, shrinks, turns black, and becomes moldy.

In Hungary, the western walnut borer swarms from July to mid-October. This long, drawn-out pattern creates a serious problem and challenges professionals. The larvae of the fly can destroy 90-95% of the crop, which means that we will hardly find Hungarian walnut kernels in the markets, even at very high prices.

HelloVidék visited the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) to find out what damage can be observed from the borer flies this year. In response to our question, Imre Pécsek, NAK’s communications staff member, brought to our attention NAK’s weekly research on the number of current pests, which also includes the monitoring of the nut shell borer. The data shows that the number of walnut borer flies varies widely throughout the country, while no adults were caught at Maroslele and Siklós forecast points.

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