Improving Peach Twig Borer Monitoring In Stone Fruits With Baited Pheromone Traps And UV-A Light

Commodities

• Fruits: apricots, peaches, plums

Practices

• Crop Production: cropping systems
• Education and Training: extension, on-farm/ranch research
• Pest Management: integrated pest management, mating disruption, traps

Peach and related stone fruits are important fresh-market crops in the Intermountain West, including Utah. Recently, the peach twig borer (PTB) has been challenging to manage, resulting in significant economic losses. The two main strategies to manage PTB are timed insecticide sprays based on first adult emergence caught in pheromone traps and mating disruption (MD) using sex-pheromones. However, in the past seven years, seasonal monitoring of adult males revealed 10 to 26-fold higher counts for non-MD orchards and 15-fold for MD orchards compared to previous years. Because current commercial PTB pheromones only attract males, it is difficult to interpret catches in relation to real field populations. We propose to assess the performance of pheromone lure baited traps, in combination with UV-A LED light, to improve PTB monitoring in both MD and non-MD orchards (Objectives 1 & 2). Specifically, this project will determine which trapping system(s) can successfully attract PTB females and improve male catches compared to the commercial standard lure (Objective 1). We will also assess the proportion of mated females to evaluate the efficacy of MD (Objective 2). A comprehensive outreach program will be delivered in UT, CO, ID, and WA. We will evaluate current PTB management practices, knowledge of pheromone-baited traps, and PTB biology (Objective 3). We will provide webinars, field days, factsheets, in-person meetings and measure results via a baseline and post-project survey. Among other impacts, we expect a 10% reduction in crop losses to PTB and an 80% increase in knowledge among stakeholders (Objective 4).

1. Assess the efficacy of novel peach twig borer traps to capture female and male moths compared to the commercial standard pheromone trap in Utah peach orchards.
2. Compare captures of mated female peach twig borer moths and non-target beneficial and pest insects in novel traps in mating-disrupted versus non-mating-disrupted orchards.
3. Deliver and repeat a survey of western U.S. peach producers on their peach twig borer management to aid in providing customized management recommendations and to assess knowledge and management practices.
4. Deliver a comprehensive extension outreach program to improve grower knowledge and adoption of novel peach twig borer monitoring for sustainable management.