Quantifying the Benefits of Areawide Pheromone Mating Disruption Programs that Target Codling Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

A 4-yr research and implementation project in Michigan apple production showed that deploying pheromone-mediated mating disruption for codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., in an areawide (AW-CMMD) program where mating disruption is established on all apple-producing acreage on individual and adjacent farms, significantly improves control of codling moth. The areawide project was compared with mating disruption applied to individual apple blocks (Block-CMMD) on farms with other orchard acreage not under disruption, or apple blocks not treated with mating disruption (No-CMMD). Pheromone-baited traps were deployed at 1/ha over 850 ha of AW-CMMD and 20 ha of Block-CMMD; 20 ha were not treated. [Q 1] Average captures of codling moth in AW-CMMD declined each season while they remained steady in the Block-CMMD and increased in the No-CMMD programs. Captures of male codling moth in pheromone-baited traps were reduced 93% by year 4 of the project in AW-CMMD orchards. Injury to fruit and the overall number of insecticides targeting codling moth decreased each year in the areawide program; in Block-CMMD orchards, injury levels remained about the same with slight reductions in insecticide use from year to year; and in the No-CMMD orchards, injury increased significantly, but insecticide use varied little from year to year. Growers who implemented AW-CMMD realized a mean savings of $55–65/ha through reduced fruit injury and use of insecticides as compared with orchards using insecticide-only programs. This Michigan project demonstrates that an areawide approach to mating disruption improves the benefits of deploying pheromone in individual blocks.