treatments which received fungicides and second-level in- 

 secticide treatments had more leaves than the non-fungi- 

 cide treatments, but fewer than the full insecticide treat- 

 ments. 



Conclusions 



While it appears that eliminating fungicides may im- 

 prove mite biocontrol, there appear to be no beneficial ef- 

 fects of such elimination in terms of other pests and it is 

 abundantly clear that the cost of eliminating fungicides is 

 not small. Summer disease incidence increases greatly 

 without fungicide use. Furthermore, defoliation increases, 

 and may decrease subsequent fruit set. One solution to the 

 mite biocontrol vs. fungicide dilemma may be the reduced 

 use of fungicides, which has not been tried yet. Limited 

 fungicide applications, as opposed to no fungicide use, may 



also benefit trees in terms of premature defoliation. 



It is also a concern that the pesticide-treated spheres 

 did not control maggot as well as the standard insecticide 

 treatments. Wet weather made it difficult to keep feeding 

 stimulant on the spheres. This problem will need to be 

 remedied if the approach is to be effective. 



Acknowledgments 



This work was supported by the USDA Sustainable 

 Agriculture and Research Education Program (SARE), the 

 EPA Agriculture in Concert with the Environment Program 

 (ACE), the University of Massachusetts IPM Program, and 

 the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture, in 

 cooperation with the following growers: William Broderick, 

 Dana Clark, Wayne Rice and Joseph Sincuk. 



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Fruit Notes, Winter, 1995 



