Abstract
An integrated pest management (IPM) programme for apple involving selective insecticides applied in response to monitoring and using non-acaricidal fungicides was compared with a routine ‘calendar’ broad-spectrum programme over a 5-year period. This IPM system optimized the effect of natural enemies. From the second season onwards the predacious phytoseiid mite, Typhlodromus pyri, reached sufficient numbers to regulate Panonychus ulmi at low, non-damaging numbers. T. pyri also suppressed apple rust mite, Aculus schlechtendali, over most of this period. No acaricides were required on the IPM plots in the last 3 years of the trial. Small reductions in the number of insecticide/acaricide applications were made on the IPM plots but insect damage to fruit, especially by lepidopterous larvae, was higher than on the broad-spectrum plots. Several pests now rarely seen in commercial orchards built up on IPM plots and required specific treatments. The results are discussed in relation to further development of a commercially applicable IPM system.
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