Attract and kill strategies for control of the plum curculio in conventional and organic apple orchards

Description

An attract and kill technique to control plum curculio was recently proposed by U.S. researchers, but it is not well adapted to a number of production types (conventional, organic, high density, etc.) is very little used in orchards and virtually unknown in Québec. As in the case of other types of attract and kill techniques currently available for apple pests (e.g., codling moth and apple maggot), the attracticide method for plum curculio requires combining an attractant with a very low dose of an effective insecticide. It can also be easily adapted to organic production through a judicious choice of insecticide.

Objective(s)

• Adapt the attract and kill technique proposed by Tracy C. Leskey to the plum curculio in high density organic and conventional orchards in Québec by:
  • Conducting a comparative attraction trial in an orchard block under each type of production
  • Conducting a comparative mortality test on two new products, one natural and one chemical