An Operation in Practical Control of Codling Moth in a Heavily Infested District1

Abstract

This paper gives the results of one year's effort against the codling moth, Carpocapsa Pomonella, carried out by a group of eleven growers associated for that purpose and cooperating with the entomologist of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and shows: (1) that under codling moth infestation conditions, indicated by the fact that the late fruit in the check orchard averaged five injuries per apple, 73,850 bearing apple trees, covering 1,376 acres of orchard land, produced 280,200 bushels of fruit of which 192,320 bushels, or 68.8%, were absolutely free from all codling moth injury; (2) that this percentage of 68.S represents a 20.5% increase in fruit absolutely free from codling moth injury over the conditions obtaining the previous year; (3) that the maximum amount of fruit absolutely free from codling moth injury at picking time obtained on any one of these properties was 97%; (4) that the principal factors underlying this accomplishment were more timely and accurate spray applications and the more intelligent and careful use of orchard sanitation measures, such as scraping the rough bark from the tree, the utilization of burlap bands and the partial or complete elimination of the used containers as a source of codling moth infestation. The conclusions are: (1) that, under the local conditions of heavy infestation of codling moth, this insect can be suppressed by intensive work against it; (2) that the most intensive part of the effort is the cover spray program against the entering larvae of the first brood; (3) that, where the insect has been suppressed, a very high percentage of the picked fruit can be brought through absolutely free from codling moth injury by intensive work against the first brood only.