Management and Economics of a Small 

 Low-input Apple Orchard 



Ronald J. Prokopy 



Department of Entomology, University of Massachusetts 



Hundreds of different pest species (arthropods, 

 diseases, weeds and vertebrates) can affect growth 

 and productivity of apple trees. Two fundamentally 

 different approaches can be taken to manage this 

 complex of pests. 



One approach involves a comparatively harsh 

 level of human intervention and high input of off- 

 farm materials. For the past 5 decades, nearly all 

 commercial apple orchardists in the eastern United 

 States have used this approach, which even under 

 the most modern, widely-practiced integrated pest 

 management system usually involves annual appli- 

 cation of 5 to 8 insecticide, 2 to 3 acaricide (including 

 oil), and 10 to 13 fungicide sprays, along with herbi- 

 cide against understory plants, and toxic bait 

 against mice. 



The other approach combines modest human 

 intervention with low input of purchased materials, 

 particularly chemical pesticides. This approach, 

 currently practiced by only a few commercial pro- 

 ducers in the eastern United States, accents cul- 

 tural, biological, host-tree resistance, and behav- 

 ioral methods of pest management. Intervention 

 with pesticide is a last resort, a step taken only when 

 all other measures have fallen short of acceptable 

 pest suppression. If commercially feasible, this 

 approach offers promise of sustainable fruit produc- 

 tion with minimum adverse impact on soil and water 

 quality and on other organisms, including beneficial 

 arthropods, microorganisms, humans, and other 

 vertebrates. 



In a 1985 article [Fruit Notes 50(2):2-5], I re- 

 ported results from 1981-84 of using a low spray 

 program for managing apple arthropod pests in my 

 small orchard in Conway, MA. In this article, for the 

 same orchard, I present management practices and 

 results from 1985-1989 of a low-input management 

 program for all classes of orchard pests, including ar- 

 thropods, diseases, weeds, and vertebrates. Besides 

 data on pest levels in the orchard and neighboring 

 unmanaged trees, values are given for variable and 

 fixed costs involved in operating the orchard and 

 gross return from sale of fruit. In addition, compari- 



son is made with cost of operating a typical Mcintosh 

 orchard in the Hudson Valley of New York. 



Management Practices 



The orchard (2/7 acre) consists of 30 Liberty, 5 

 Prima, and 5 Priscilla bearing apple trees plus 5 

 Liberty and 5 Freedom apple trees not yet bearing, 

 all on M.26. The canopy of bearing trees averaged 

 about 10 feet in diameter and 10 feet in height in 

 1989. Woods border the orchard on the North and 

 East, beginning about 15 feet from perimeter apple 

 trees. Open field, stretching for about 300 feet, 

 borders on the South and West. Ten unmanaged 

 apple trees, some annually bearing fruit, are 600 to 

 800 feet from the orchard. Annually, the orchard re- 

 ceives about 50 pounds of cow manure per tree in 

 early April and 15-20 pounds of lime per tree in 

 November. 



Arthropod management . Arthropod pest control 

 was accomplished by a combination of cultural, 

 behavioral, biological, and pesticidal means. Sev- 

 eral arthropod pests active early in the growing 

 season were managed through application of pesti- 

 cide. Hence, superior oil (60-70 viscosity) at 4 gallons 

 per acre was applied annually with a shoulder- 

 mounted, motor-driven mist blower at the tight- 

 cluster stage of bud development against overwin- 

 tering eggs of the European red mite and overwin- 

 tering San Jose scale. Phosmet (Imidan) at 5 pounds 

 per acre plus the residue-extending agent NU- 

 FILM-17™(Miller Chem. Co., Hanover, PA) at 1 pt 

 per acre was sprayed at or shortly after petal fall and 

 again 10 to 14 days later, primarily against plum 

 curculio. In my judgement, more than any other in- 

 secticide, phosmet affords effectiveness against 

 plum curculio and relative safety to humans and 

 beneficial predators of apple pests. Phosmet sprays 

 were timed carefully to coincide with the appearance 

 of fresh curculio egglaying scars, usually monitored 

 on a daily basis for 2 to 3 weeks beginning at petal 

 fall. These sprays also controlled developing larvae 

 of European apple sawfly and speckled green fruit- 



Fruit Notes, Fall, 1990 



