A demonstration project was conducted in New York as part of a multi-state USDA-RAMP grant to evaluate IPM strategies and control technologies that are effective and economically viable options for reduced-risk (RR) pest management programs in apples, using provisional action thresholds for specific major pests based on previous studies involving reduced-risk tactics. Our primary objective was to determine the effectiveness of whole-farm approaches for managing the arthropod pests of apple orchards that rely on mating disruption and/or RR and OP-replacement insecticides for pest control.

Apples and peaches in the eastern United States are high-value crops, with a combined value of $500 million annually. These fruits constitute a major component in the diets of infants and children. Implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 has begun and will continue to limit reliance on broad-spectrum insecticides, which have been the foundation of pest management programs in these crops for the past 40 years. Results of previous work on this issue demonstrated that apple pests can be adequately managed in the eastern United States using a diversity of RR tactics. Unfortunately, these programs increase economic risk to growers; net profits to growers would decline when replacing an OP-based program with a RR program in apples. Clearly, this economic risk will serve as a major impediment to the widespread adoption of RR programs and will short-circuit the intended outcome of the RAMP project – to enhance development and implementation of innovative IPM strategies. This is particularly true of a beleaguered tree fruit industry plagued by low commodity prices and high production costs. Indeed, input obtained at recent stakeholder meetings held in each of the participating states showed that growers will continue to rely extensively on OP insecticides in the absence of RR programs that are economically competitive or demonstrate more sustainable long-term benefits. This proposal builds on our previous research and will develop RR tactics that are profitable and sustainable.

Six growers participated in a full-season RR management program (one employing mating disruption in addition to RR pesticides), committing a total of 216 acres (113 acres of which constituted the entire farms two of growers), and two additional growers committed 62.4 acres for a large-scale intensive OBLR study involving weekly adult trapping and terminal or fruit inspections to determine summer generation re-infestation patterns and progress following near-eradication of the overwintering brood. One of the six full-program growers also designated 18.4 acres of his farm as a third site for this study. In a separate study, A full-season mating disruption trial was conducted in 5 to 10-acre plots on three farms, to assess the efficacy of three different multi-species pheromone products against codling moth, oriental fruit moth, and lesser appleworm: Isomate CM/OFM TT ties; Checkmate CM/OFM Duel membranes; and Suterra CM/OFM Puffers. Pheromone treatments were used as a complement to the grower`s normal insecticide programs.

The full-season RR program implemented on the six grower` farms resulted in clean fruit levels ranging from 92.0–98.0 percent, with late-season OBLR accounting for the largest category of insect damage (1.2–6.2 percent), and smaller amounts of damage being caused by plum curculio (0.2–3.2 percent) and tarnished plant bug (0.2–1.5 percent). Where available, fruit grown on the same farms using conventional practices ranged from 92.9–98.2 percent clean, with other damage being 1.3–5.6 percent (OBLR), 0–1.1 percent (tarnished plant bug) and 0–1.2 percent (rosy apple aphid). The large-plot OBLR study on historically high-pressure farms resulted in late-season OBLR fruit damage levels between 0.7–2.1 percent with no discernible spatial or adjacent habitat patterns in the damage detected. All three dispenser technologies in the mating disruption study suppressed adult catches of oriental fruit moth and lesser appleworm to near-zero levels for the entire season, but at two of the sites, some or all of the treatments allowed some breakthrough of codling moths in late June. Weekly on-tree fruit inspections detected very few damaged fruits until mid-August. Total fruit damage at harvest ranged from 0–7% across all sites and pheromone treatments (compared with 1–8.4% in the non-disrupted grower standards). The Duel plot had lower total damage than the non-disrupted plot at all three sites, as did the Isomate plot at one site. At one site, both of these treatments had lower total damage than in the Puffer plot.

USDA Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program - Integrated Pest Management. Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program 112.B