Importance of Collection Overhangs on the Efficacy of Exclusion Fences for Managing Cabbage Flies (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)

Summary

Fine nylon mesh fences (135 cm high) with varying lengths of downward-sloping collection overhangs were evaluated for efficacy in excluding the female cabbage flies Delia radicum (L.) from plots of radish, Raphanus sativus (L.). During three trials conducted in 1994 and 1995, fences without overhangs, fences with 12.5-cm overhangs, or fences with 50-cm overhangs were tested against fences with standard 25-cm overhangs and unfenced control plots. In fenced plots with standard 25-cm overhangs, the mean number of D. radicum females caught on yellow sticky traps placed within plots was 85% less than those caught in corresponding control plots. The mean numbers of D. radicum females caught in fenced enclosures with no overhangs, 12.5-cm overhangs, or 50-cm overhangs, were 61, 67, and 94% less than those caught in corresponding control plots, respectively. The mean proportion of radishes damaged by D. radicum larvae inside enclosures with 25-cm overhangs was 62% less than in corresponding control plots. The mean proportions of radishes damaged inside fences with no overhangs, 12.5-cm overhangs, or 50-cm overhangs were 33, 59, and 81% less than those caught in corresponding control plots, respectively. Results are discussed in terms of defining an appropriate fence design for commercial use.