- 4 



No attempt was made here to control the tarnished plant bug or European 

 apple sawfly using Tang1etrap*-coated white (bud- and blossom-mimicking) 

 visual traps that are effective for monitoring abundance of these ?. insects 

 in larger commercial orchards. The reason was that such traps also may cap- 

 ture pollinating insects (although infrequently honey bees). Destruction of 

 honey-bee hives by bears in my orchard in 1981 precluded further introduc- 

 tion of hives for pollination. Hence, I was obliged to rely for pollination 

 on native bees and wasps, which are susceptible to trap capture. Also, no 

 attempt was made to control codling moth using traps baited with synthetic 

 sex pheromone to capture the males, as this approach failed in my orchard in 

 Wisconsin in 1973. 



In sum, my findings indicate that even in the face of very strong pest 

 pressure originating from nearby unsprayed trees, a crop of high-quality 

 fruit (90-93% clean) can be grown in small commercial apple orchards in 

 northeastern North America using disease-resistant trees in combination with 

 insect traps and annually no more than a single application of petroleum oil 

 and 2 applications of insecticide. This number of synthetic non-oil pesti- 

 cide applications represents only about 8 and 11%, respectively, of the 

 total number of synthetic pesticide (fungicide, insecticide, and miticide) 

 applications made annually in larger commercial non-IPM and IPM orchards in 

 Massachusetts, which yield 98-99% commercially 'clean' fruit. 



It would be naive at the present time to hope that the pest management 

 methods used in my small orchard in Conway could be transferred intact to 

 larger commercial orchards. At least 2 major developments are necessary 

 before this could become a realistic possibility: 



a) Greater acceptance by commercial growers of existing high-quality 

 disease resistant varieties such as Liberty and/or Freedom, and the 

 breeding and propagation of still better disease resistant cultivars 

 ( Fruit Note s 49(2): 25-26), 



b) A non-pesticidal method of controlling apple maggot flies that is 

 less labor intensive than hanging a red sphere trap among every 

 100-120 apples on a tree. Use of synthetic oviposition-deterring 

 pheromone against the apple maggot could be the new method we need 

 ( Fruit Notes 42(1): 8-11). (We have been and are continuing to try 

 to identify the chemical composition of this pheromone). 



Maybe I'll never live to see my dream fulfilled of being able to grow 

 apples on a large commercial scale without any pesticide, but I still would 

 be thrilled if, before the end of this century, commercial growers needed to 

 use only two pesticide sprays per year, as now seems possible in small 

 orchards. 



