I use a poison baited phermone to control OFM and it's unbelievably affective. Comes in a tube. You sqeeze a little onto every few peach trees and OFM is history- just one application a season. Advanced Pheromone Technologies Inc.

Harvestman, that contact that you gave me, Darek Czokajlo, Ph.D., said that Attract and Kill pheromone is now unregistered. He started his own company, alphascents. If someone finds Attract and Kill let me in on it. Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: Alphascents

I'm not sure what happened with the attract and kill versions but all I have seen advertised lately is the disruptant programs. I did notice that some studies found that the orchard needed to be blanketed with pheromone or the males may bump into a scent trail of a real female and mate. The disruption methods put out a lot more pheromone so that could tilt things a bit in their favor - even though the males don't die, there is so much pheromone the odds are they will never find a real female. Also the disruptants are OMRI approved and that may be giving them a much bigger market.

Ace, aptivinc.com seems to be selling the attract and kill stuff still.

Scott

I've used them for years. And it is more like a quarter mile than 900 feet. And even more if you have a big source upwind. I have to spray a buffer around my place. Actually I think someone said the CM could ride the wind a mile.
I think you need to try it as everyone's place is different and there is just no way to know for sure if it will work for you other than doing it.
I have to use these, the granulosis virus every 14 days, tilling in the winter, light oil sprays, and a buffer to keep codling moth damage at acceptable levels. I also used to have to send people through every two weeks throughout the summer to pick the wormy apples and now I just don't. Can't afford it. I don't mind the cost of the product, it is the cost of paying people to apply it that is becoming high.

I looked at Alpha Scents just now and think I might buy some CM attractants and traps, but I am a little uncertain about the offerings for that particular bug. There are listings for a "10x", a "5 weeks", a "8 weeks" and a "male & female". I suppose the five and eight weeks products are for first and second generation but it's not quite clear and they don't provide any additional information on the web site.

A local orchard (Benson's) used disruptants with considerable success last year, and the county extension agent here is trying to get everybody behind it. But there's LOTS of neglected backyard trees, and they're all wormy.

M

I can't think of any reason to not use the longer acting one. You just have to try them one year and find out. All growers do this. You just don't know. It can only take one unsprayed tree near you to mess everything up. Depending on out close it is and such.
I have a friend with a five acre block of cherries and for some reason, one year, the one cherry tree on the neighbors didn't get sprayed for mildew. He was all set to pick a nice crop and the warehouse rep found mildew in the block. They figured it came from that one neighboring tree that my friend usually sprayed.
I can't remember exactly now, but I think the whole block went to the processor. We are talking a lot of lost money. So one tree can mess you up bigtime.

Mark, that site is only selling monitoring traps. They are great things to use but their purpose is only to see how many bugs you have. You need to get some mating disruptants. Brand names include Isomate and Nomate. See link below for the place I got mine from.

Geraldo, it sounds like this approach is highly sensitive to good coverage. I think I know where all the fruit trees in our neighborhood are so I can cover all the bases, but I am going to ask my neighbors just to be sure. I figure anyone with an uncared tree won't mind if I add a few lures and make their apples less wormy.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Lakes disruptants

Ah, thank you Scott. I already use monitoring traps (theirs look cheaper and they have the re-useable trap and "refills") but I was contemplating enough traps to stop them that way. I only have the one tree.

The Great Lakes site is interesting- I need to find a bunch of like-minded people though to justify the cost. I'm hoping that this is what out county extension agent is trying to accomplish, and that I'll be able to by twists or spirals from their program.

Thanks for the help.

M

Man, I can't believe they stopped making that stuff. Phermone bait and poison is the ideal insect solution, species specific and the poison only goes where you want it. I wonder why it was deregistered? Oh well, I still have a little left- wonder if it will still work after 4 years.

Harvestman-

Pheromones are available, contact poisons are available (?) and Tanglefoot is there ...

Just has to be way to put together your own kit on this.

Just thinkin ... I envision something like a chemical bug trapper-zapper, but as far as that's concerned, how about a lightless zapper with a bunch of pheromone attractant?

Like I said, just thinkin'.

:-)M

I followed Scott's link above (aptivinc.com) and based on their price list, it looks like they still have the attract and kill gel for sale (LastCall CM in 50g and 150g tubes for $54.95 and $112, respectively). Has someone found out otherwise?

Havestman, are you saying that you think a tube lasts for at least 3 years?

Here is a link that might be useful: APTIV

Actually, I just partially answered my own question. It looks like the CM attract and kill is still available at the above link, but not the OFM attract and kill....

Scott, do you mind sharing your planned spray schedule for OFM and CM?

djofnelson, I have to say I wonder if that site is really still in business. The last brochure up is from 2007. I would call them up before ordering anything to make sure they are still taking orders.

Re: my spray schedule, I'm not sure what I am going to do given that I am using these disruption lures for the first time; it will depend on how many moths I am getting in my traps and how much damage I see on fruits. I will probably copy what Geraldo mentions above, spraying spinosad or CM granulosis virus every couple of weeks.

Speaking of sprays, when do you do your light oil sprays Geraldo, and what are they for?

Scott

markmnmt, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person you'll meet but now that you've steered me... I like how you're thinking.

Light oil sprays at a concentrate of no more than 2% ten to fourteen days after full bloom. Actually we have a service that monitors flight with Degree Growing Days and tells when to spray, but those days I think would put you close. You can put out traps. We did use Sunspray, but I think we switched two years ago to a generic. I can't think now what it is, but Sunspray would be fine. Then put it on again after 10 days. It works best against against scales and aphids and other things. An organic orchard can just get buggy. Eventually the predators will move in, but until they do you can have small problems. The oil sets back the bad bugs without killing the good bugs. An organic orchard is neat, because you will see Praying Mantis and others. Won't see those in a nonorganic block. But sometimes you can have an outbreak of things like aphids and it takes awhile for the predators to catch up. That is where the oil comes in. An interesting thing about summer oil is the Phds don't think it does a great deal against CM, but the old timers think it helps enough against CM to warrant putting it on. I am beginning to wonder if we won't eliminate the oil and go with Entrust, GV and lures. I think we will. I think others already have. Entrust has to go on about every seven days. It is expensive and for your purposes you would be better off with Delegate.
My buffer has been Guthion, but that is going the way of the dodo bird. You really need to check out Delegate.
I have no knowledge of attract and kill as these have never been approved for certified organic.
My knowledge is from a year ago so things might have changed.

I was thinking of spraying oil along with my spinosad because I had heard that helped its efficacy, but the above is another reason. UC Davis in fact mentions oil as having a benefit on CM right when they are laying eggs, but the timing on that spray is absolutely critical - if its perfect you just nailed all the eggs but if not you did nothing. I have have some major aphid outbreaks some years and the leaf-curling aphids can get waaay ahead of the ladybugs, and for that reason I think I need to do the oil spray.

What is Delegate exactly? "spinetoram" is what the label says, I guess its something related to spinosad? I already have a bunch of Entrust so I am probably going to keep using that until it runs out.

Geraldo, your knowledge of a year ago is what I would normally hear 2-3 years from now, and is invaluable for me - thanks!

Scott

I can attest to the goods being a little behind the bads. One year when I lived in Montrose, CO, the plum tree that barely hung over the edge of the potatoes was full of lady beetles eating the aphids; problem was the aphids were THICK on the spuds also but no lady beetles. I decided to risk losing the spuds and wait for the lady beetles a week or so and they finally came down from the plum tree. Those beetles wiped out the spud aphids with a vengence in just a few days, I was nervous in the interim.

Yeah, in my nursery I can spray the tips of Euro plums, cherries and apples repeatedly to deter the aphids or I can wait and let the LBs do the work for me. Only problem is when the ants kick out the LBs. Oh yeah, and on cherries the aphids curl the leaves and limit LB access I think.

If I remember correctly, Delegate is spinosad that has a very small part of it either genetically manipulated or derived. Something like that. And that precludes it from being accepted by OMRI.

Ah, good old OMRI. That doesn't matter a whole lot to me.

Re: aphids, those leaf curling cherry aphids are a total pain. I have also had a few leaf curling aphids on my apples but they are not nearly as extreme as the little black leaf-curlers I have gotten on my cherries. I finally decided the best organic treatment is prune off all the shoots they are destroying and then spray the rest. And re-spray several times in the following weeks.

Scott

Thanks for the info, Geraldo. Below is a good article I just found on Delegate. Where's a good place to buy it?

Spinetoram provides an excellent combination of activity and residual control while maintaining the low mammalian toxicity and short environmental persistence of the spinosyn family. A field-lab bioassay in cabbage showed improved residual control of beet armyworm and corn earworm compared to spinosad six days after application (Fig. 6). In a comparison of spinetoram (DelegateÂ), spinosad (SpinTor®), and azinphos-methyl (Guthion) against codling moth (Cydia pomonella) in a field-lab bioassay, spinetoram provided control of codling moth similar to azinphos-methyl, but at a lower application rate (Fig. 7). Control was superior to spinosad at the same application rate. Table 1 lists some significant toxicological and environmental fate values for spinetoram.

Here is a link that might be useful: spinetoram (Delegate),

Delegate is Restricted use and you must have a private applicator license to purchase and use it. That is not hard to acquire. Contract your extension agent for more info.