The orchard is about 49 acres with a grower standard block of 27
acres,
reduced risk block of 22 acres further divided into a 12 acre
soft
treatment and a 10 acre OP dormant treatment. Five of these ten
acres
received an OP hullsplit spray.
NOW traps were placed in early May and three biofix dates
occurred, but
overall there were very few eggs detected throughout the orchard.
These low
populations can be attributed to winter sanitation. Mummy counts
taken in
February 1999, show that out of 20 randomly chosen trees in each
block,
totaling 80 trees, there was less than 1 mummy nut per tree.
Winter
sanitation is the most effective means of controlling NOW.
Mites
Dormant samples showed that over 50% of the spurs collected in
each block
had mite eggs present. Mite monitoring began on 6-23-99 and
continued
weekly until the end of August. At each sampling, (every other
week) five
trees per block were chosen randomly and fifteen leaves from each
of the
five were collected and inspected for red mites, two-spotted
mites,
predatory mites, and beneficial insects. The only increase in
mites and
their predators occurred on 9-16-99. Since this population
occurred late in
the season, and defoliation was minimal, these mites will not be
detrimental to tree performance next year.
The PMA program in this orchard has been implemented well. As of
harvest,
there is virtually no damage in any of the four treatment areas.
However,
in order to determine if there are differences in treatments,
data must be
collected for a number of seasons. We plan to continue this
project in the
same manner next year with little or no changes in procedure. By
continuing
the data collection and monitoring over the course of many
seasons,
additional insight to environmentally friendly means of pest
control can be
determined.