European red mite eggs, no action was taken against 

 foliar pests such as mites, leafminers, leafhoppers or 

 aphids. Instead, I relied on influx of beneficial natural 

 enemies and their buildup in the absence of insecticide 

 after the second application of phosmet in late May or 

 early June. I did not, however, systematically sample 

 abundance of beneficial natural enemies in or around 

 the orchard to gather evidence that beneficials were in 

 fact providing effective suppression of pest anthropods. 



Disease management 



As indicated above, cultivar resistance to or 

 tolerance of pathogens was the principal approach used 

 in managing apple diseases. This proved insufficient, 

 however, for management of sooty blotch and flyspeck. 

 Symptoms of these diseases do not permanently scar 

 or deface fruit. Instead, symptoms appear as dark 

 blotches or spots on the fruit surface, especially toward 

 harvest. During the first quartile of orchard operation 

 (1981 -85), neither was sufficiently abundant to suggest 

 that it should be managed. During the second quartile 

 (1986-90), blotches and spots arising from these 

 diseases became increasingly noticeable and were 

 removed by cleaning each apple with a damp cloth 

 before packing it for sale. This eventually proved so 

 laborious as to be uneconomical. Therefore, during 

 the third quartile (1991-95), certain hosts on which the 

 causal pathogens overwintered, especially blackberry, 

 grape and sumac, were removed if within 100 yards of 

 the orchard in an effort to reduce influx of inoculum. 

 Also, the orchard trees were pruned during summer to 

 reduce relative humidity and hence inoculum 

 establishment within the tree canopy. These measures 

 proved partially but incompletely successful. Hence, 

 during the fourth quartile (1996-2000), a combination 

 of the fungicides captan and benomyl was applied twice 

 annually (July and August) to suppress sooty blotch 

 and flyspeck. 



Weed management 



During the first quartile, the orchard floor was 

 mowed 5-6 times each year to enhance air flow, reduce 

 competition of weeds for nutrients and water, and 

 reduce vegetation favorable for establishment of voles. 

 During the second quartile, hay as mulch was spread 

 annually beneath the canopy of each tree to suppress 



weeds, conserve moisture and provide nutrients. Even 

 though remaining mulch was removed in late August 

 to discourage establishment of voles, eventually voles 

 that fed on tree bark and roots became established in 

 damaging numbers. Hence, dunng the third and fourth 

 quartiles, mulching was no longer practiced, and 1 

 returned to the mowing regime of the first quartile. 



Vertebrate pest management 



Beginning in 1981, voles were managed by placing 

 a roofing shingle beneath each orchard tree after harvest 

 and placing poison bait (as needed) in trails beneath 

 shingles. 



Beginning in 1 985, deer were repelled from feeding 

 on developing twigs and buds by hanging a bar of 

 scented soap on the trees at greatest risk. 



Beginning in 1989, flocking birds (especially 

 crows, bluejays and starlings) were repelled from 

 alighting on trees and pecking fruit by suspending 

 Scare-Eye balloons''""about 2 yards above the 

 uppermost foliage at 16-yard intervals. Balloons were 

 employed annually in mid-August and remained 

 through harvest. 



Fruit thinning 



As yields of fruit increased, it became 

 uneconomical to rely solely on thinning of fruit by hand 

 for ensuring acceptable fruit size. Hence, beginning 

 in 1991, carbaryl was included as a chemical thinner 

 with the first application of phosmet. 



Sampling pest incidence 



At harvest, a minimum of 25 randomly selected 

 fruit on each of the 50 frees in the Conway orchard 

 and on each of four unmanaged apple trees 200-250 

 yards away from the Conway orchard was sampled for 

 pest injury. A fruit was classified as injured by a pest 

 if the degree of injury was sufficient to preclude 

 inclusion of the fruit for sale as "U.S. Fancy" grade. 



Foliar populations of spider mites, leafminers, 

 leafhoppers and aphids in the Conway orchard were 

 assessed annually on a presence/absence basis at 3- 

 week intervals from June to harvest by examining 10 

 leaves or 10 terminal shoots on each of 10 randomly- 

 selected frees. 



Fruit Notes, Volume 66, 2001 



