Effectiveness of a Soft-Pesticide Program on Pear Pests1

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Abstract
During 1980 and 1981, spray programs using soft pesticides were compared with programs using pesticides normally applied to commercial pear orchards in central Washington for the control of the insect-mite pest complex. In 1980, all pest species present except pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster, were held below damaging densities by both soft and standard programs or by predators and parasites that survived. In the soft-pesticide plot, two prebloom sprays of petroleum oil and four postbloom tree washes failed to prevent serious fruit russetting by honeydew from pear psylla. In the standard program, fenvalerate and oxythioquinox sprays before bloom and three postbloom sprays of amitraz provided better control of this pest than did the oil sprays and tree washes. In 1981, both soft and standard programs controlled all pest species present. In the soft plot, pear psylla density was kept below damaging level by two prebloom petroleum oil sprays and four postbloom sprays of mancozeb. Codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), was controlled in the soft plot by four cover sprays each year of diflubenzuron in 1980 or Bay Sir 8514, 2-chloro-N-([L(4-trifluoromethoxy)phenyl]amino)carbonyl benzamide) in 1981. Azinphosmethyl applied on a similar schedule in the standard plot also provided good codling moth control. Densities of major predators of pear psylla were higher in the soft than in the standard plot, but not as high as those in the untreated check.

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