Pest Management in organic Apple, Pear and Stone Fruit

Summary

Holistic approaches to pest management that aim at maximising self-regulation and resilience of orchards are a key goal in organic farming (see chapter 2). Pest management starts even before planting an orchard by site selection, orchard layout, planting systems (tree densities and pruning system), choice of cultivar and rootstock as well as cultivation techniques. Cultivation techniques and measures applied for disease control can also influence the dynamics of pest insects within orchards and need to be included in a holistic system view. In addition, the use of flowering strips to enhance natural enemies is a field of intense research. Direct control methods using biocontrol organisms or bio-insecticides are available for many pest insects. However, these methods can have side effects on beneficial arthropods and thus destabilise the self-regulating system. Therefore, selective methods combined with specific prevention strategies should be preferred and use of non-selective bio-pesticides should be limited to a minimum. Within this chapter we describe currently applied and possible future strategies and methods for pest control in organic apple, pear and stone fruit production. Strategies and methods for control of most important pests are summarised in Tables 5.1 and 5.2.