remains to be seen whether the considerably greater 

 monetary outlay associated with substituting kaolin 

 clay for phosmet can be sustained economically. 

 Further, kaolin clay may not be as friendly to survival 

 of natural enemies of orchard pests as believed initially. 



Conclusion 



The findings of this long-term assessment of the 

 effectiveness of a bottom-up, ecologically-based 

 approach to apple pest management, as practiced in a 

 small commercial apple orchard in Conway, 

 demonstrate clearly that such a minimum-intervention 

 approach can be conducive to sustained production of 

 high quality apples even under high pest pressure 

 common to orchards of Massachusetts and other New 

 England states. Indeed, when pest incidence during 

 the most recent four years of Conway orchard operation 

 (1997-2000) was compared with that in large 

 commercial orchards in Massachusetts dunng this same 

 period, the amount of pest injury to fruit at harvest 

 was essentially identical (7%) even though the Conway 

 orchard received about 75% less insecticide and 

 fungicide. 



The question arises as to whether the bottom-up. 



ecological-based approach to pest management used 

 for the past two decades in the small Conway orchard 

 can be adopted for use when planting and maintaining 

 larger commercial orchards. Conceivably yes. But a 

 principal constraint lies in selling fruit of scab-resistant 

 cultivars whose names have little or no recognition in 

 the global marketplace. Of necessity, such apples 

 would need to be niche-marketed in pick-your-own, 

 roadside stand, and other similar direct-market outlets. 

 It is among those growers whose local clientele 

 (however limited) may have a long-term interest in 

 purchasing apples grown under a bottom-up, 

 ecological-based pest management approach that such 

 an approach will have the greatest appeal. 



Acknowledgements 



Thanks are extended to Jennifer Mason, Arthur 

 Tuttle, and Starker Wright for collecting the pest 

 incidence data for large commercial orchards, to Juan 

 Rull and Jaime Pinero for aid in data analysis for the 

 Conway orchard, and to Wes Autio, Mark Brown, Bill 

 Coli, and Dan Cooley for very helpful suggestions on 

 an earlier version of the manuscript. 



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10 



Fruit Notes, Volume 66, 2001 



