Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/751050
82 DECEMBER 2016 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com T raps throughout Fred Steele's orchard in Kelowna are the first line of defense against a horde of new pests that growers in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley face. The traps have yet to capture an apple maggot fly or apple clearwing moth, but Steele isn't rest- ing easy. "It's not if, it's when," he said of the moth, first discov- ered in North America in the neighboring Similkameen Valley in 2005. "It's everywhere around me, it just hasn't got here yet. You want to make sure that you're prepared for that situation and ready to go. You can't afford to leave it." But if the pest is a major threat to Steele's orchard, an 11-acre, family-run operation typical of the B.C. indus- try, knowing that the traps are backed up with expertise developed as part of the province's fight against codling moth is reassuring. Steele is president of the B.C. Fruit Growers Association (BCFGA), which has contracted monitoring for apple clearwing moth to the Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (SIR) program. The province established the program in 1990 to breed sterile insects to ensure unfruitful cou- plings among codling moths. SIR is now the basis for a surveil- lance network and reporting protocols that promise to help B.C. growers manage new and emerging pests, including apple maggot, apple clear- wing moth, and other threats. Codling moth remains a focus both in apple orchards, where more than 90 percent of the acreage meets the target of less than 0.2 percent damage, and cherries, for which Japanese import requirements demand assur- ances that orchards are moth-free. However, apple maggot, first detected in B.C. in 2006, was discovered on a single residential lot in West Kelowna last year and is now on the surveillance team's watch list. The fly isn't yet established in the Okanagan, Similkameen and Creston valleys, and trapping verifies that a Canadian Food Inspection Agency quarantine on fruit entering the region is working. Looking for new invaders B.C. pest management strategies build on deep roots. by Peter Mitham A surveillance trap hangs amid apple trees as part of a monitoring effort for new pests in British Columbia. COURTESY MICHELLE COOK, OKANAGAN-KOOTENAY STERILE INSECT RELEASE PROGRAM OR 185357 • WA SIMPLH915C8 • ID RCE 34089 Worker Housing Solutions Worker Housing Solutions MULTIPLE FLOOR PLANS STICK BUILT | DURABLE | PROVEN Simplicity's Worker Housing structures are constructed using quality materials, are durable, built on-site and last for years. The farm worker housing units comply with H-2A Federal Housing requirements for temporary agricultural labor forces here in the United States. Simplicity Homes o—ers a value driven solution for whatever price point you need. Contact a sales agent at 877-417-4675 or visit Simplicity-Homes.com to view floorplans and see how we stack up to the competition.