Plum tree with black knot and worms in apple trees.

We got black knot in our Italian Prune and Green Gage Plum, and worms in the Honeycrisp, Gala and ? last year. This year not much fruit. What can I plant with them to remedy this?

Jackie
Aldergrove, BC,Canada

I have huge predation issues on all my fruit. If it isn't bagged, it isn't likely to last. I used those mesh party bags this year but they solarize super fast. Someone suggested nylon stockings for my peaches next year. I just got bird netting for my grapes. You'd think with all the birds I'd have no worms, but I didn't get a single peach this year due to asian fruit moth.  Another thing to do is harvest those wormy apples, turn them into vinegar if you can and dispose of the worms.  Scout and pet your plants. Petting is depesting. Supposedly planting herbs under trees helps, but mint runs rampant here so I'm not convinced. Good luck!

Sadly it is likely to get worse each year.
Winter is supposed to be cold, the colder and a long cold spell is doom for the pests creatures, without a long cold period they don't die so we see a spring with huge numbers of the pests.
Even where I live we used to get at least a small knock down of many of the pests creatures but this winter we didn't have any significant cold spell just a day or two here and there so we are over run with nasty creatures like ticks and the pests beetles are rampant, even our large numbers of predator insects can't keep them down this year.

Just found out that hard pruning worked for another neighbour. They have black knot on their yellow plum tree. pruned really hard and now have a bumper crop.
Last year 3 of my apple trees had worms. So far only one has worms.
I visited Paul Gautschi in his Back to Eden garden. He said in the beginning he had a lot of trouble with his fruit trees. Now, they are abundant and super healthy. It's all about the soil. I wonder if the soil is healthy enough that the tree can conquer the black knot.

In the apple one of the worms is Coddling Moths. I understand they overwinter under the bark of the trees. They spin a cocoon. If there is a bad season it's said they can spend a whole bad year in that cocoon. I intend to research a way to either attack them under the bark, or to prevent them from wanting to make a home there. Something organic? With the apples I have here which seem to bi-annualy bear fruit I find it hard to think that wouldn't be devastating to them. It seems this year most of the apple trees in the neighborhood are in an off year all this year. My Yellow Transparent had maybe 6 apples. Most of the apple trees are either on vacant lots or are ignored by their owners. But this year there are very few apples. When an apple falls from a tree here it seems to immediately get consumed by the deer. I watch them approach an apple tree, one goes faster, the other goes faster, they start running.

Here comes one now.

But how do they get from that apple that's ripe to under the bark?