Removing Abandoned Apple Trees 

 Near Orchards: Time Required 

 and Potential Benefits 



Ronald J. Prokopy and Jennifer Jaros 



Department of Entomology, University of Massachusetts 



As we move toward implementation of sec- 

 ond-level IPM, increasing emphasis will be 

 placed on habitat management as a type of 

 cultural control to reduce or eliminate need of 

 pesticide use against certain pests. A principal 

 habitat management practice is removal of 

 abandoned or wild, unsprayed apple trees in the 

 vicinity of orchards. As we reported in Fruit 

 Notes [56(1):16-17], cutting down all unsprayed 

 apple trees within 100 yards of the perimeter of 

 apple orchard blocks provides outstanding con- 

 trol of second-generation codling moths. The 

 100-yard distance simply seems too far for most 

 codling moth females to fly. Because abandoned 

 apple trees are major hosts of plum curculio and 

 sawfly and because, like codling moth females, 

 neither of these pests is a strong flier, there is 

 good reason to believe that removing abandoned 

 apple trees within 100 yards of the orchard 

 perimeter might substantially reduce immigra- 

 tion and injury caused by these pests. 



This brief report provides information on the 

 density of abandoned apple trees within 100 

 yards of 12 Massachusetts commercial apple 

 orchard blocks and the time required to find and 

 cut down all such trees. Four of the blocks were 

 in western Massachusetts, 4 in the central part 

 of the state, and 4 in the eastern part. All were 

 6 to 8 acres in size. 



The average number of abandoned apple 

 trees found within 100 yards of each block was 

 57 (range: to 352). For 6 of the blocks, there 

 were 31 or fewer such trees. On average, 50% of 

 the area around a block was woods, brush, or 

 open field, habitats in which abandoned apple 

 trees were found. The other 50% of area con- 

 sisted of adjacent commercial orchard blocks. 

 The average amount of time it took for two 

 people armed with chain saws to scout thor- 

 oughly the woods, brush, and open field and cut 

 down all abandoned apple trees around a block 

 was about 1.5 hours. 



In conclusion, it seems to us a most worth- 

 while investment of about 30 minutes per acre to 

 search out and remove abandoned apple trees 

 within 100 yards of commercial apple blocks. It 

 could pay high dividends in reducing pressure 

 from such rather host-specific pests as codling 

 moth, sawfly, and plum curculio. It probably 

 will not help with apple maggot, however, as the 

 flies can easily travel many hundreds of yards to 

 orchards. It can be done at any time of year, 

 though accurate tree identification may be easi- 

 est during the growing season, especially during 

 bloom. The only constraint lies in ownership of 

 the land and willingness of neighbors to be 

 sympathetic if you are not the owner. 



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14 



Fruit Notes, Summer, 1991 



