Mating Disruption: Key element of a successful building block strategy against Cydia pomonella in organic apple production (BIOFRUITNET Practice Abstract)

Summary

The pheromone confusion technique is a residue-free and beneficial insect-friendly method with high efficacy in large-scale cultivation and low infestation pressure.
Practical recommendations
• Pheromone confusion as a biotechnological process
• Attraction mechanisms based on sex pheromones
• A suitable method for codling moth regulation, especially in larger, adjacent plantations
• Type of dispensers
• Aerosol dispensers (approx. two puffers per hectare)
• Passive dispensers (500-1,000 dispensers per hectare)
• Dispensers should be applied shortly before codling moth flight begins (Flight control with pheromone traps)
• Regulation of moth flight with dispensers: regular release of sex pheromone over the entire codling moth flight period is crucial for treatment success
• Weather conditions have a decisive influence on the dispensing behaviour of the dispensers
• Distribute dispensers regularly within the orchard and double the amount in the last outer row or along the fence around the plantation.
• Suspend the dispensers in the upper third of the crown, otherwise, the efficiency will be low
• Apply the total number of dispensers per hectare; otherwise, the effect will be reduced
• Combined dispensers are available (effect against fruit peel and codling moth)
• Collect and dispose of the empty passive dispensers (at the latest when digging up the old plant), as they are very difficult to decompose in the soil