An Experimental Spray Program for Integrated Control of Insects Affecting Sour Cherry1

Abstract

The effectiveness of an experimental spray program for integrated control of insects affecting sour cherries was investigated in Door County, Wisconsin. The sod of a Montmorency cherry orchard was treated with endrin in October 1960. In 1961 and 1962, one half of the orchard was treated with foliar sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner plus dodine (fungicide) in the petal-fall and cover sprays. The second half received dodine only. A survey of leaf nests of the eye-spotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (Denis & Schiffermuller), in June of both years showed that the spring larvae were retarded in development and their mortality increased in the Bacillus plot with no apparent adverse effect on larval parasitization. Fruit surveys at harvest each year revealed no evidence of injury by the plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst). Total fruit injury was 4% or less in both the check and treated plots, with external injury by lepidopterous larvae averaging less than 2%. A piercingsucking type injury by an unknown species accounted for 3% of the total fruit injury in both plots in 1962. Further experimental studies are suggested, using foliar sprays of B. thuringiensis in sour cherry orchards where endrin is used for rodent control.