Cover Crops for Enhancing Cherry Orchard Habitat for Beneficial Invertebrates

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: cherries

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops, pollinator habitat
• Education and Training: extension, on-farm/ranch research
• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, wildlife
• Pest Management: biological control, chemical control, integrated pest management
• Production Systems: agroecosystems, other

The Mid-Columbia Basin is the dominant cherry production region in Oregon, producing approximately 80% of the state’s cherries. When new orchards are planted, the ground under young trees is typically left bare. However, planting cover crops in new orchards may provide habitat for diverse beneficial invertebrates (hereafter “beneficials”), some of which play key roles in pest control. When cover crops are planted, producers must decide on a seed blend to use, despite scarce information on how different blends influence beneficials. Adjacent natural lands also likely harbor beneficials, which can provide additional pest-control services to nearby orchards.

This study examined how communities of beneficials are influenced by different cover crop blends, both in fallow orchard habitats (no trees - just cover cropped), newly planted orchards and adjacent natural habitats. We sampled beneficial and pest invertebrates in three broad habitat types associated with orchards including: 1) new orchards - ranging from no cover crop to grass-dominate cover, to mixed forb/grass cover, 2) mature orchards, and 3) natural habitat fragments.

As we have finished fieldwork, labwork, and started data analyses, we have shared the results of the project with producers via two extension publications (one currently in press) and presentations at a farm fair in Hermiston in the fall of 2023. We have conveyed initial results with the scientific community at the Ecological Society of America National Conference (August 2023), the Orchard Pest and Disease Management Conference (February 2023) and in peer-reviewed publications (one currently in prep). Finally, results will be shared with the public in a series of educational videos to be released on YouTube. This project addressed several “critical needs” identified by a 2018 working group on sweet cherry production in Washington and Oregon. Several members of the working group have indicated support for this project (see letters of support).

Research Objectives:

1. Inventory non-pollinator beneficial invertebrates in orchards and natural habitats in the Mid-Columbia Basin and examine habitat characteristics associated with their distribution and community composition.
2. Determine the ability of different cover-cropping regimes (no cover crop vs. grass dominant cover crops vs. a grass and forb mixed cover crops) to enhance beneficial invertebrate communities.
3. Investigate the ability of different cover-cropping regimes to reduce the abundance of three common pest taxa (spotted wing drosophila (SWD), aphids, and leafhoppers).

Education and Outreach Objectives:

1. Share research results about beneficial invertebrates, the value of adjacent natural habitat fragments, and project outcomes related to the use of cover crops in cherry orchards with fruit producers in the Columbia Basin.
2. Present project results to the scientific community via conference presentations and publications in the primary literature.
3. Create targeted educational content related to beneficial invertebrates designed to connect urban audiences to sustainable agricultural research and practices.