Today, I was looking for signs of pecan nut casebearer activity. Over the last week we have been capturing a fair number of male moths in our pheromone traps (see table below) but it seems too early for the females to start laying eggs. I my experience, casebearer females wait until the nuts become fertilized and nut expansion begins before they lay eggs on the tip of a young nutlets. The photo above was taken this morning and shows a cluster of Kanza nuts. These nuts have been pollinated but the pollen tube is still growing towards the ovule and the nut has not yet become fertilized (see
pollination vs. fertilization). So, we will continue to watch and wait.
