HRGSA
BMP Project / Areawide II Handbook
Introduction
Tree
fruit growers face numerous and often conflicting pressures when it comes to
pest management. Producing high quality
pest free fruit is obviously of paramount importance; however growers must also
seriously consider the cost of production as well as potential adverse impacts
of pest management programs on neighboring land uses and natural resources. In the
The Areawide II and Best Management Practices projects are
separate projects, but they have complementary goals of helping growers respond
to these challenges. In the
Many of the BMPs outlined
in this Handbook were included in the set of best spray practices developed in
response to detections of organophosphate insecticides exceeding Oregon water quality standards
in Neal Creek during the 1999 season. We
have expanded the concept of Best Management Practice beyond the suggested best
spray practices to include Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
practices such as pest and disease development models, pheromone mating
disruption, and chemical alternatives to OP insecticides. These practices
provide fruit growers with tools they can use to prevent contamination of
surface water and reduce the use of OPs.
Section
1 of the Handbook provides an introduction to the HRGSA Best Management
Practices and Areawide II projects. Section 2 provides a summary of the pesticide
monitoring programs that have been conducted in the Valley, framing one of the
challenges that fruit growers face in relation to pesticide use. In Section 3, Best Management Practices are
defined and the Best Spray Practices are illustrated. Section 4 provides an
illustrated guide to accessing and using insect and disease development models
via the internet. Section 5 provides
detailed information on chemical alternatives to OP insecticides including pre-
and post bloom scenarios for non-OP control programs. Successful implementation
of pheromone mating disruption for codling moth control is the focus of Section
6. And Sections 7 and 8 include
other pertinent resources and information related to BMPs.
Hood
River Grower-Shipper Association’s Best Management Practices Project is a
two-year project designed to facilitate the adoption of best management
practices for a tree fruit production throughout the
s
providing
tree fruit growers in the
s
reducing
the amount of organophosphate insecticides used in the
s
protecting
and enhancing the quality of natural resources, especially local waterways
Essentially, the Best Management Practices (BMP)
Project provides local growers with a centralized source of information related
to pesticide application practices and the impacts of pesticide use on the
surrounding ecosystem. Through outreach
and education efforts, the BMP Project will enable growers to make well
informed decisions regarding the implementation of recommended pesticide
management practices. The success of the
project will be measured by the increased knowledge of local growers about BMPs, the extent to which local growers implement BMPs over the next two years, and the reduction in
organophosphate pesticide use in the
Concerns over the impacts of organophosphate
pesticides on water quality and human health have prompted scrutiny from
regulatory agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency and the
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Water quality monitoring conducted by the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality and
While economical and effective alternatives to OPs are currently available on the market, OPs provide an important safety net to growers in critical
stages of fruit production. By following
recommended pest management practices, including reducing OP use and following
best spray guidelines, growers can significantly reduce the impacts of OPs on the surrounding environment. In turn, the regulatory scrutiny of OPs may be diminished and OPs
will more likely remain available to tree fruit growers.
The
general interest in maintaining and enhancing local water quality, and a desire
to keep local growers ahead of the regulatory curve, prompted HRGSA to apply
for the BMP Project grant. By being
proactive and adopting the recommended management practices, growers can
potentially:
s avoid future restrictions and regulations on pest
control tools
s reduce dependence on OPs
s positively impact the local ecosystem, and
s enhance the reputation of growers as good
environmental stewards
HRGSA’s BMP Project will provide local growers with the
resources needed to move toward widespread implementation of best management
practices.
The Areawide II
The Areawide II Pest Management Project is a research and
demonstration project being conducted in
The project reaches
across commodity lines to include apple, pear, and walnut. These crops have codling moth in common as a
key insect pest. A major focus for each
crop is extending the use of pheromone mating disruption for control of codling
moth. Studies are being conducted to:
s evaluate new insecticides as OP replacements for supplemental control in codling moth mating disruption programs
s
evaluate alternative pheromone
delivery systems
s
assess the impact of insecticides on
natural enemies
s
manage intra- and extra-orchard
habitat to enhance biological control
s
evaluate non-pheromone monitoring
methods
In addition to
the research programs being conducted, education and outreach programs are
important components of the overall project.
Areawide II Project
Implementation in
In
Demonstration
orchards serve dual purposes: they provide large plot comparisons (approx. 20
acres each) of conventional and alternative control programs, and serve as
demonstration orchards for conducting education and outreach activities. The common theme is the use of pheromone
mating disruption as the primary codling moth control. The need for supplemental control is
determined by extensive monitoring
In the
Education and
Outreach
Several major
thrusts of the education and outreach program are carried out in collaboration
with Phil VanBuskirk and Rick Hilton at the OSU Southern Oregon Research & Extension Center. These include:
s introducing the Oregon Fruit Crops Pest Alert System - an Internet based system for delivering near real time alerts on pest development (http://ipmnet.bcc.orst.edu/pestalert/)
s
producing an orchard pest monitoring
video
s
producing a Spanish language pest
monitoring training manual
s
coordinating regional and local meetings,
workshops, and field days, for growers and other industry members that focus on
results from research trials and demonstration blocks to provide information
supporting successful adoption of OP alternatives
s
posting periodic summaries of
pertinent phenology models on the OSU-MCAREC
Website (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/mcarec/)
s
disseminating information through
Extension newsletters and local media (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/hoodriver/)
An important
aspect of the outreach portion of this project is educating the general public
about efforts that fruit growers are making toward reducing their reliance on OPs. This has been
done through local media and by distributing tri-fold pamphlets describing
grower efforts to implement mating disruption and emphasizing the importance of
controlling pests on backyard trees.