Subject: [NAFEX] Fwd: Controlling Peach Tree Pests
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 07:42:13 -0800
STORY LEAD:
Environmentally-Friendly Controls for Peach Tree Pests
___________________________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Sharon Durham, (301) 504-1611, sharon.durham@ars.usda.gov
March 7, 2008
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
___________________________________________
Peach growers combat several insects that harm their crop, usually
using chemical pesticides to do so. Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) scientists in the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research
Laboratory in Byron, Ga., are seeking environmentally friendly
alternatives.
ARS entomologists David Shapiro-Ilan and Ted Cottrell, along with
colleagues at the University of Florida and the University of Georgia,
are evaluating two tiny, soil-dwelling nematodes as possible biological
controls. They were used to thwart damage caused by the plum curculio
weevil (Conotrachelus nenuphar), and two clear-winged moths, the
peachtree borer (Synanthedon exitiosa), and the lesser peachtree borer
(S. pictipes).
Shapiro-Ilan and Cottrell used the Steinernema riobrave nematode to
defend against plum curculio larvae--producing a suppression rate of 78
to 100 percent.
For the peachtree borer, the researchers used another beneficial
nematode, Steinernema carpocapsae. They found that a single field
application of S. carpocapsae provided 88 percent suppression when
applied to mature peachtree borer infestations in springtime. In a
recent field trial, three applications of S. carpocapsae during the
peachtree borer's fall egg-laying season completely suppressed all
damage.
The scientists knew from lab studies that another peach pest, the
lesser peachtree borer, is also highly susceptible to S. carpocapsae.
But the researchers also realized that controlling the lesser peachtree
borer would be more difficult because they attack trees
aboveground--where the nematodes dry out and are less effective.
To deal with this problem, the researchers applied S. carpocapsae
nematodes to tree wounds and then covered the wounds with
moisture-holding bandages. In the first trial, 100 percent lesser
peachtree borer mortality was attained in five days.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________
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__________________________________________
ARS News Service, Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service
5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD 20705-5128
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[NAFEX] Fwd: Controlling Peach Tree Pests,
Lon J. Rombough, 03/07/2008