There is Much work being Done to Combat Navel Orangeworm in Pistachios

There is Much work being Done to Combat Navel Orangeworm in Pistachios

Patrick Cavanaugh
Patrick Cavanaugh
There is sterile insect technology where sterile navel orange worm adults moths that will be released from special airplane over orchards and will dramatically eliminate production of worms through mating. The industry notes that this is not the silver bullet of Navel Orange worm control. And for sure orchard santation must always be present in the winter months

This is the second year of trials and it's certainly not perfected yet. The industry knows that this is not a silver bullet for navel orange worm control and even if this takes hold, there's certain standards that must be in place to control navel orange worm. Richard Matoian is Executive Director of American Pistachio Growers.

“We believe that there has to be at least a minimum level of standards implemented industry-wide and we needed to determine what those minimum standards are,” explained Matoian.

“We would suggest the minimum standards are placing traps to be able to determine navel orange worm populations, implementing sanitation practices during the dormant season, which would include shaking and incorporation of the nuts into the soil, properly timed sprays, and then ultimately having some sort of mating disruption in place. Including possibly sterile insect technology,” he said.

And keep in mind that orchard sanitation will always be important, because the breaks the Navel Orangeworm life cycle.

Speaking of pistachios and insect pressure, this is a good time to be walking through that orchard, looking for a certain plant bugs and treating when needed.

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