Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/43042
Another concern was preharvest inter- val. The clearance of dinotefuran early in 2010 gave growers a tool they could use up to three days before harvest. Under the Section 18 emergency registration, it can be used only twice in a season and only until October 15. Most insecticides with significant activity against the stinkbug have at least a seven-day preharvest interval. Sources of optimism One source of optimism was the early success growers had controlling the bug in peaches. "We're not seeing the kind of damage we got last year," said Jerry Fre- con, the Rutgers University agriculture agent in New Jersey. "This year, so far, it's better," added Rutgers entomologist Dean Polk. Last year, he said, every peach grower had damage, in some cases more than 50 percent and up to 90 percent damage. "This year, it looks like we have about 5 percent damage—after spending a lot of money," he said. In a normal IPM spray program, he said, growers would use an alternate-row-middle spray program for diseases and insects, spraying every ten days and skipping every other insecticide application once the oriental fruit moth season was over. This year, they used the alternate-row- middle program with a five- to seven-day interval and used insecticide every time— harder insecticides like endosulfan, lan- nate, and pyrethroids. Only endosulfan seemed to have any residual activity, he said, and the registration for that mate- rial—and its entire insecticide class—will end midseason next year. Borders Bob Black at Catoctin Mountain in Maryland said some growers used border sprays effectively. They could use a nonla- beled insecticide like orthene on fence rows and woodlots bordering orchards. Black's orchards were among the hard- est hit last year. "We're doing okay this year," he said. "We were very aggressive in our spring program on peaches. While we spent quite a few more dollars, we're keeping them in check. "I've been living on the sprayer. I spray every night and sometimes in the morn- ing, and we're going against what we've been doing in the past. All this spraying is not the answer. Pyrethroids used to be a no-no in our IPM program, and we're using them now. Imidan was a standard insecticide, and it doesn't do anything to stinkbugs. "On the positive side, I still see green lacewings in the orchards, so we're not killing all our predators." Tracy Leskey, U.S. Department of Agri- culture entomologist at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia, who heads the nationwide team effort aimed at developing controls for brown marmorated stinkbug, said that growers were happier this year that they had fruit to sell—using a fairly aggressive insecticide management program that is 25 to 35 percent more expensive. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER OCTOBER 2011 7 She expects the team will have much more to say this winter at the horticulture meetings. "This last year has been our first full year experiencing this insect," she said. We have learned a lot. By this winter, we should have a program growers can use in 2012." •