North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

----------
From: "ARS News Service" <isjd@ars-grin.gov>
To: "ARS News List" <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: Areawide Control of Codling Moths
Date: Mon, Nov 26, 2001, 4:44 AM


STORY LEAD:
Coordinated Control Methods Vanquish Apple and Pear Pest

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Linda McElreath, (301) 504-1658, lmcelreath@ars.usda.gov
November 26, 2001
___________________________________________

It took time for apple and pear growers in the northwestern United States
to buy into the concept of areawide pest control.  But when all was said
and done, Agricultural Research Service entomologist Carrol O.
Calkins--with help from many quarters, including state university
scientists, ARS scientists and private sector partners--demonstrated that
growers could band together across large areas to curb the codling moth,
with reduced use of chemical pesticides.

Without pesticides or other controls, the codling moth alone could destroy
up to 80 percent of the region's apple crop and half of its pears.  So
Calkins, as the program coordinator, decided to bring to bear everything
known about monitoring the moth and curbing its spread by nonchemical
means.

Calkins convinced 68 growers to try mating disruption in their orchards. In
1994, they began with  3,000 acres at five sites in Washington, Oregon and
California.  To reduce pesticide use, they adopted classic integrated pest
management (IPM) techniques including release of pheromones to confuse
moths in search of mates and, at one site, release of sterile males to
prevent fertilization of females.

Today, Northwest orchardists have reduced their pesticide applications by
about 80 percent.  This has led to new knowledge of secondary insect pests
and the natural parasites and predators that can help keep the pests in
check if pesticide use is reduced.

Fruit on more than 120,000 acres of orchards in Washington, Oregon and
California is now being grown under areawide IPM practices.  And while ARS
oversight has ended, a new university-led phase continues the innovative
approach to crop protection. To read more about the five-year Codling Moth
Areawide Suppression Program and its findings, see the November issue of
Agricultural Research magazine online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov01/pest1101.htm#Moth

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency. Calkins leads the agency's Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory
in Wapato, Wash. The lab is on the web at www.yarl.prosser.wsu.edu.

___________________________________________
This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers.  You can also get
the latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: Info@ars.usda.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.









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