Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/56260
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mandated increased concern for human health and water quality effects led to development of so-called reduced- risk insecticides. While the risks were reduced for people and the environment, they were in many cases not reduced for beneficial insects—honeybees, parasites, and predators, he said. "Where stinkbug is a problem, insecticide sprays have more than doubled." —David Biddinger Eliminating or restricting the cheaper broad-spectrum insecticides did help spread eco-friendly, targeted mating- disruption systems. "While mating dis- ruption was markedly more expensive, it dramatically reduced insecticide applications aimed at codling moth and, indirectly, the need for spraying to control secondary pests as well," Biddinger said. Mating disruption is a targeted, species-specific, nonlethal method to control primary fruit-feeding pests. Used in combination with pest-selective, reduced-risk insecticides, fruit growers were poised to move toward a more eco- logically balanced approach. They could rely more on natural enemies and less on pesticides that need to be continually replaced as resistance develops, he said. "Insecticide sprays in the five years It's not the tank, it's the mix. Add REGALIA® before brown marmorated stinkbug became a widespread problem had been reduced by over 50 percent in many orchards and acaricide use by over 80 percent." It is this beneficial outcome that brown biofungicide to the mix for better plant health, better yield and a better bottom line. REGALIA induces the plant's defenses, provides bacterial and fungal disease control, delays the development of resistance and helps minimize chemical residues in harvested produce. In short, REGALIA is proven to make your protection program better. For more details, go to www.marronebio.com/regalia marmorated stinkbug now threatens. "Where stinkbug is a problem, insecticide sprays have more than doubled," he said. The stinkbug's effects "As with many introduced pests, effec- Just add tive biological control agents are not available currently, so short-term solu- tions rely on pesticides for control," Biddinger said of the brown marmorated stinkbug. "This is a truly difficult pest to control since it spends over 80 percent of its time outside of orchards, and we do not yet have a truly effective means of monitoring the adults with either pheromone, light, or bait traps." In field and laboratory bioassays con- ducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers in Kearneysville or by Penn State entomologists, the broad-spectrum insecticides that FQPA was trying to phase out and those that are the most detrimen- tal to biocontrol agents are the most effec- tive against the brown marmorated stinkbug, he said. Organophosphate insecticides are surprisingly ineffective, he added. The pyrethroids, Lannate (methomyl), the chlorinated hydrocarbon Thionex (endosulfan), and some of the neonicoti- noids are the best products evaluated in the lab and field so far. All these materials are disruptive to IPM. The pyrethroids and Lannate are broad-spectrum insecticides that are highly toxic to many natural enemies found in tree fruit, he said. Least disrup- tive to IPM are Thionex and the neonicoti- noids; they are not disruptive of the phytoseiid mite predators that are most important for biological mite control in Pennsylvania. But they are toxic to many other biological control agents and to honeybees and native bees. "While these predatory mites have some tolerance to Lannate at lower rates, higher rates of this compound and multi- ple applications of pyrethroids would basically eliminate all biological control in apple orchards and set IPM back forty- plus years," he said. • Always read and follow label directions. REGALIA is a registered trademark of Marrone Bio Innovations. © 2011, Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. 16767 GFG 12 MARCH 1, 2012 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com