A LOW-SPRAY APPLE-PEST-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR SMALL ORCHARDS

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Abstract
From 1981 to 1984, a low-spray management program was employed against injurious arthropods on the 40 disease-resistant apple trees in my experimental orchard in Massachusetts. The program consisted of an annual early-season application of petroleum oil followed by 2 applications of phosmet (1 at petal fall and another 10–14 days later). Visual traps were used to suppress Rhagoletis pomonella flies. For all years combined, a mean of 89.7% of fruit sampled at harvest in this orchard was free of insect injury compared with 0% uninjured fruit on neighboring unsprayed trees. Populations of foliar-feeding pests never reached injurious levels.