Wednesday, 17 November 2004 - 1:24 PM
1085

The persistence of Checkmate OFM-F microcapsules containing oriental fruit moth pheromone in apple and peach orchards

Daniel Waldstein, dew898f@smsu.edu, Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, SW Missouri State University, Department of Fruit Science, 9740 Red Spring Rd, Mountain Grove, MO

Applications of Checkmate OFM-F oriental fruit moth microencapsulated sprayable pheromone (Suterra LLC, Bend, OR) were made with an airblast sprayer in peach and apple orchards at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station. A fluorescent dye was incorporated into the sprayable pheromone so microcapsules could be counted using ultraviolet light. The average number of microcapsules at 2-6 hours, 7 days, and 14 days after sprayable pheromone was applied was 2.34, 0.21, and 0.025 microcapsules per apple leaf, and 4.14, 0.77, and 0.066 microcapsules/peach leaf, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the number of microcapsules per square centimeter leaf surface area and exposure of the leaves to sunlight or rainfall. Sunlight had a higher correlation than rain to the number of microcapsules on leaves. Moth trap counts in the central spray rows were near zero and significantly lower than the control traps for the peach and apple orchards. Therefore, mating disruption of oriental fruit moth using CheckMate OFM-F appeared to be successful despite substantial losses of microcapsules throughout the two-week spray interval. The number of microcapsules on leaves dipped in beakers of aqueous solutions of microencapsulated pheromone was 25 to 69-fold greater than peach and apple leaves treated with the same tank concentration in the field using an air-blast sprayer. Significant differences in microcapsule abundance were found on leaves of peach, plum, cherry (tart and sweet), pear (European and Asian), and apple trees.



Species 1: Lepidoptera Tortricidae Grapholitha molesta (Oriental Fruit Moth)
Keywords: mating disruption, fluorescent dye

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