Feb 10, 2020

A Balanced Approach to Pest Control

(Sponsored) Richard Staton doesn’t leave insect control to chance.

The Flat Rock, North Carolina, apple producer employs Integrated Pest Management (IPM), including a combination of scouting, traps and mating disruption to control his most troublesome orchard pests.

“This is a long-term solution for improved fruit quality and for the protection of our trees,” Staton says about his multi-pronged pest control program.

Adding mating disruption to a season-long IPM program can be time consuming and expensive, but the results are worth the time and money, Staton contends.

“Early in the season, at about the greening stage, we start hanging 200 pheromone traps per acre as high up in the trees as possible,” he says. “We are also out in the orchards every day scouting for pests, and we’ve got a third-party entomologist who scouts for us. Additionally, we rotate our insecticide modes of action to improve product efficacy and minimize resistance development.”

Using this balanced program approach, he says, decreases the number of insecticide sprays required and helps control populations of oriental fruit moth, codling moth and secondary pests.

He treats his orchards with Delegate® WG insecticide in mid-July to control the second generation of troublesome pests, such as codling moth. “Using mating disruption plus Delegate is the key to controlling codling moth,” Staton says. “With this program, we are down to only needing one insecticide application and we have no worms whatsoever. We have just about eliminated codling moth in our orchards.”

Delegate has been an integral part of Staton’s orchard pest control program since it was released. And, because the preharvest interval offered by Delegate is shorter than competing products, it fits well into his multifaceted approach.

“With today’s more targeted products, a program approach is required now,” he says. “You can’t sell wormy apples, period. You either use a program approach to control worms, or you can’t sell your fruit. Nobody wants a wormy apple.”

Staton Farms produces several apple varieties including Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome, Fuji and Granny Smith, which are sold both into the fresh market and are used for processing.

Staton and his wife also operate a cold storage business in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

Learn more about how Delegate® WG insecticide can help battle pests in your orchard by visiting www.delegatewg.corteva.us.