Good Fruit Grower

November 2012

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A scout removes a trap to examine its contents for codling moths and determine whether they are sterile males she released during the season, or wild moths. These growers pay their share of the SIR cost, but have to buy insecticides and spray as well. "We work very hard with them to bring them to the same level of control," McCurrach said. Over enforcement—The legal structure that set up the sterile insect release program in British Columbia gave workers in the program rights to enter and monitor private property, which was not always popular. The program began with a "heavy cleanup" campaign. All host trees There were efforts to locate all host trees in the valley— in orchards and in cities—and to coax homeowners to remove trees or manage them. A tree-banding program is still under way to capture and destroy pupating codling moths. The program is governed by a board made up of local government and industry stakeholders, and experts like Judd serve in advisory capacities, helping with the project design and solving problems. In general, McCurrach said, homeowners support the program because the fees are small for each household, and they see the benefits of less spraying and less pesti- cide in the environment. "There was not a lot of pushback from homeowners," she said. Early in the program, growers were more resistant— until they started to experience a reduction in codling moth infestation that translated into a reduction in their spray costs. Most then became more enthusiastic about it. Unfortunately, a rise in the overall production costs for the area's tree fruit industry and some areas where the areawide controls seem to have a less-than-perfect effectiveness continues to pressure the program with a pushback from growers in the northern end of the valley. Mating disruption alternative In the effort that began in 2011, growers in the north- ern end of the valley, where the areawide program has been less effective, are testing mating disruption as an alternative to SIR. Growers in the southern end, who are much happier with the program, continue to get their weekly allotment of sterile codling moths—1,000 per acre each week. At the height of the program, more than 12 million sterile moths were released every week. "Our staff does all the weekly sterile releases and hangs all the mating disruption dispensers. Consistency in application of the control measure is a key element of areawide pest management," McCurrach said. One task they also do is surveillance and monitoring of the pheromone traps placed to evaluate the program's effectiveness. Every week in every orchard, they monitor the traps, squashing each of the moths captured on the sticky glue trap bottom liners, looking for "pink guts." The sterile moths are all reared on a special diet that contains a red food dye, so any moth that doesn't look red when squashed is a wild one. • www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER NOVEMBER 2012 25 See us at the Washington Hort Show, Dec. 3-5 PHOTO BY SHAWN FENNELL, SIR FIELd SuPERvISOR

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