- 3 - 



rl) From early July until apple harvest, one unhaited, Tangletrap* - coated, 

 sticky red sphere was hung in optimal position ( Fruit Notes 47(4): 

 13-16) in each tree to capture and eliminate apple maggot flies. The 

 Tangletrap* coating was not replenished, nor were insects or debris 

 removed from the sphere during this time. A major advantage of this 

 method is that the same sphere, when cleaned and coated freshly with 

 Tangletrap* at the beginning of each season, can be used for many years 

 without loss of effectiveness. 



Result s. The results (Table 1) show that for all 4 years combined, 90% of 

 sampipfT fruit in my orchard were clean, compared with 0% clean fruit on 

 nearby (within 100-200 vards) unsprayed trees. In 1^84, the first year I 

 used a motor-driven backpack sprayer (I used a handpump sprayer before 

 that), 93% of sampled fruit in my orchard were clean. 



Seven insect pests were responsible for approximately 99% of all insect- 

 caused fruit injury on the unsprayed trees (Table 1). In descending order 

 of importance, these were the plum curculio (99% of fruit injured), apple 

 maggot (71%), codling moth (41%), green fruitworm and/or oblique-banded 

 leafroller (injury by the former difficult to distinguish at harvest from 

 the latter) (26%), European apple sawfly (11%), and tarnished plant bug 

 (5%). These same 7 pests were likewise responsible for about 9q% of all 

 insect-caused fruit injury in my orchard (Table 1). Except for the tar- 

 nished plant bug, all were effectively suppressed (relative to populations 

 on the unsprayed trees) in my orchard by the 2 Imidan* applications and the 

 use of t'aps ffor apple maggot). These 7 insects represent 7 of the 8 most 

 injuriou . fruit pests in large commercial apple orchards in Massachusetts 

 ( Fruit NT_tes 48(3): 23-25). The only insect pest causing appreciable fruit 

 injury Tn~ the latter but not found in my orchard or in the nearby unsprayed 

 trees was San Jose scale. 



Not one of the 2250 apples sampled over the 4-year period in my orchard 

 was culled because of disease injury. Also, at no time in my orchard did 

 populations of foliage-injuring spider mites, aphids, leafhoppers, or leaf- 

 miners exceed the economic threshold levels given in Fruit Notes 45(3): 

 15-18 for larger Massachusetts commercial orchards. ~" 



In addition to careful timing of the petal -fall and single post- 

 petal -fall spray applications against the earlier-season pests, non- 

 pesticidal control of the major mid-and late-season insect pest, the apple 

 maggot, through use of visual traps is viewed as a key element to the suc- 

 cess of this smal 1 -orchard pest-management program. Absence of pesticide in 

 the orchard from mid-season onward apparently allows natural enemies of 

 foliar-injuring pests to build and provide effective biological suppression. 

 To illustrate, syrphid and cecidomyiid predators of aphids were abundant in 

 my orchard in July. The excellent control of apple maggot flies (less than 

 1% injury in my orchard vs 71% in the unsprayed trees) using visual traps 

 at the rate of one trap per tree (i.e., 1 trap per about 120 apples) con- 

 firms that dense populations of ths insect were effectively controlled in my 

 80-tree orchard there using unbaited red spheres at a rate of 1 per about 

 100 apples. 



