Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/263110
18 MARCH 1, 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Pest-Effective: • Season-long mating disruption • More starting active ingredient • 20% more pheromone released during the growing season Cost-Effective: • Season-long control with one application • Hand-application costs cut in half; no labor-intensive twist-ons • Minimal regulation • No harm to beneficial insects • No girdling losses Consistent, Season-Long Codling Moth Control NoMate ® CM Spiral is superior by design and performance for codling moth mating disruption in apple and pear orchards. No competing product goes on more easily, works harder, or gets better results. NoMate® CM Spiral is designed, manufactured, and supported in the United States by Scentry Biologicals, Inc., maker of the first pheromone-based product approved by the U.S. EPA. 610 Central Avenue Billings, MT 59102 (406) 248-5856 1-800-735-5323 www.scentry.com Slip-on NoMate® CM spirals consistently release volatilizing solid-matrix pheromone through flexible PVC dispensers. Female moth scent plumes are overwhelmed, thwarting male moth mating efforts. For more information, call 1-800-735-5323 or visit www.scentry.com. Pest Management Raptors seem to instill panic and lasting fear in nuisance birds. by Richard Lehnert and Geraldine Warner O ne might infer that birds aren't too smart— hence the term "bird-brained." But when it's ripe fruit time, birds know it and are quite effective at getting to it, defeating all kinds of devices, even nets. But one ruse that causes nuisance birds to panic and flee is other birds—birds of prey, raptors such as hawks and falcons. This has encouraged the growth of businesses that provide, as a service, predator birds like peregrine and aplomado falcons and Harris hawks to drive nuisance birds away from orchards, vineyards, and blueberry plantations. Justin Robertson with Advanced Avian Abatement, based in Missouri, said he became hooked on working with falcons when he was about eight years old. "It was a lifestyle that became a career," he said. "You have to be passionate about it. It takes years to learn how to do it well." When a grower hires Robertson or his partner Robert Payne, it's usually for a season that would run for about six weeks. The idea is to start early, before the fruit is ripe, and then to keep nuisance birds scared away as the fruit ripens and attracts more and more birds. Aplomado Robertson brings three to five birds, usually different species. The aplomado falcon, native to Peru, is a great bird to work with, he says, because it not only soars above the trees, it comes right into the trees and makes true believers out of magpies, robins, starlings, grackles, cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbirds, and others that invade, hide and feed in bushes and canopies. Aplomados are a relatively new falcon abatement spe- cies in the United States, he said, only receiving abate- ment approval from fish and game officials in the last seven to ten years. Aplomado is an unusual Spanish word for "lead- colored." Aplomados have great stamina and can work hard in hot weather, he said. Peregrines are larger birds that can fly higher and cover more ground. Bird vs. bird PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JUSTIN ROBERTSON, ADVANCED AVIAN ABATEMENT