Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.2
Doug Hemly shows off one of the pheromone mating-disruption devices he uses
to control codling moth in his pear orchard. The synthetic pheromones are
released from the plastic “twist-tie,” which is attached to the tree with a modi-
fied bread bag clip.
condition that Hemly secure full cooperation from all the adjacent grow-
ers. Hemly spoke to the four other growers in the Randall Island area,
three of whom agreed readily and one reluctantly, and they developed
strategies to put all their 760 acres into pheromone mating disruption.
The Randall Island Project was widely considered a success by 1994,
and began receiving awards and national recognition. This project was
one of the most successful field-scale biointensive IPM projects of the
1990s.
3
In one season, Randall Island growers reduced Guthion applica-
tions by more than 75 percent. In the first year Isomate cost $220 per
acre plus labor to apply, but by the late 1990s the price of the product
had dropped and the growers had figured out how to use only half as
much by applying it more efficiently. At $50 per acre, all the major pear
growers in Sacramento County were using it. Participants had hoped to
completely eliminate the need for organophosphates, but had to settle for
dramatically reducing them.
