Table 1. Pest injury to harvested apples in a small low-input commercial apple orchard and on nearby 

 unmanaged apple trees in Conway, MA. 



Class 



of 



pest 



Years 



Avg. no. 



fruit 

 sampled/ 

 Trees year 



Avg. annual % fruit injured by' 



Insects 



Diseases' 



1985-89 Orchard 1154 

 1985-89 Unmanaged 100 



1985-89 Orchard 1154 

 1985-89 Unmanaged 100 



% Pest- 

 TPB EAS GRW PC CM LAW LR AMF" Other free 



1.1 0.3 0.1 2.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.6 0.1 94.7 

 3.0 12.6 9.3 95.4 47.8 0.2 7.1 91.6 1.8 0.0 



AS CAR BR Other 



0.0 

 64.8 



0.2 

 0.0 



0.1 0.0 

 0.6 0.0 



99.7 

 34.6 



Birds 



99.6 

 88.1 



"TPB=tarnished plant bug; EAS=European apple sawfly; GFW=green fruitworm; PC=plum curculio; 



CM=codling moth; LAW=lesser appleworm; LR=leafroller; AMF=apple maggot; AS=apple scab; 



CAR=cedar apple rust; BR=black rot. 



b An average of 588 AMF/year was captured on the sticky red sphere traps. 



'Fruit blemished by sooty blotch or fly speck were not classed as injured because the symptoms could 



be removed completely by cleaning with a damp cloth. 



tions per year of arthropod foliar pests in the orchard 

 were as follows: apple aphids and woolly apple 

 aphids, 35% and 6%, respectively, of foliar terminal 

 shoots sampled; combined two-spotted spider mites 

 and European red mites, 13% of leaves sampled; 

 apple blotch leafminers and white apple leafhop- 

 pers, each 2% of leaves sampled. In no year did 

 populations of any of these foliar pests approach 

 levels considered potentially injurious and requiring 

 intervention. Natural enemies apparently were suf- 

 ficient to suppress these pests. 



An average of 99.7% of the fruit sampled in the 

 orchard was free of disease-caused scars at harvest 

 compared with 34.6% on the unmanaged trees 

 (Table 1). In the orchard, cedar apple rust (0.2%) and 

 black rot (0.1%) accounted for all of the disease scars. 

 On the unmanaged trees, apple scab (64.8%) and 

 black rot (0.6%) comprised the disease pest injury. 



During 1981-84, before use of mulching and 

 mowing to suppress weed growth, an average of 34% 

 of the trees had at least one mouse tunnel entrance 

 beneath the tree canopy in November. During 1984- 

 89, an average of only 4% of the trees had at least one 

 such tunnel entrance. 



During 1981-84, before bars of soap were hung 

 on the tree branches, an average of 11% of the trees 

 showed signs of damage by deer. During 1984-89, 

 none of the trees showed injury. In early October 

 1989, soap bars were removed from all trees. After 

 3 months, 18% of the trees showed signs of deer 

 injury. 



From 1985-88, before Scare-Eye balloons were 

 hung throughout the orchard, an average of 1 1 .9% of 

 fruit sampled at harvest was pecked by birds. In 

 1989, bird damage to fruit averaged only 0.4%. At 

 the end of harvest on October 1, 1989, all balloons 



Fruit Notes, Fall, 1990 



11 



