treatment. 



It is unclear why this later treatment did 

 not perform as well as the petal-fall treatment. 

 The increased amount of foliage present in mid 

 June may have adversely affected spray 

 penetration and allowed for greater survival of 

 mites in the inner tree canopy. Perhaps 

 hardening off of the leaf tissue was a factor. 

 This event may have decreased absorption of 

 active ingredient to the extent that nymphs 

 hatching several days post-application were 

 not well controlled. 



Conclusion 



It appears from the data presented here 

 that either a petal-fall application of Agri-Mek 

 or an application timed to coincide with first- 

 generation egg hatch can, under favorable 



conditions, provide satisfactory season long 

 suppression of European red mite similar to 

 that provided by a prebloom application of 

 Savey. 



The treatment directed at first-generation 

 egg hatch was less effective possibly due to 

 decreased spray coverage or decreased absorp- 

 tion of Agri-Mek into the leaf tissue. This 

 difference was of little consequence in this trial, 

 as summer weather conditions were relatively 

 cool with ample rainfall and season-long 

 suppression was ultimately achieved. How- 

 ever, had weather conditions been more 

 conducive to rapid mite build up, additional 

 summer miticides may have been necessary to 

 manage the residual population left by the later 

 treatment. 



Based on these data, we suggest the petal- 

 fall application as the more desirable of the two 

 options presented here. 



•X* *1/* *X* *X* *X* 



#^ #Y* *v* *T* *T* 



Fruit Notes, Volume 62 (Number 1), FaU, 1997 



21 



