Trying to Fight and Win Against Navel Orangeworm

The pistachio industry is still several weeks from starting their harvest and it's a really important time to keep that navel orangeworm from hurting that crop. Jimi Valov is a pistachio grower King's and Tulare Counties.

“I think everybody needs to do their part, especially your neighbors. I mean, it's just one of them things. I have some neighbors that, you know, sometimes I don't think do as much as they possibly should, but you know, I think everybody's coming around when everybody's starting to use the puffers,” Valov said.

Buffers, emit pheromone that causes mating confusion or the navel orangeworm, one of the control strategies. Growers also use sanitation, which is done post-harvest in the wintertime. They get those mummy nuts, still stuck in the tree where navel orangeworm could be harboring--- onto the ground and destroyed.

“Or destroy them some sort or a flail mower or chop them or whatever. But I think everybody's kind of getting on board knowing if they, you know, they'll, get 20, 30 cents more a pound, if they bring good clean product into them,” Valov said.

“The processors have been pounding this into the grower. I think my fellow growers know what they need to be doing. So I see big, big steps to going forward. And then I think the industry got a grant of $6 million to an Arizona lab, to try to create these sterile moths, to fight the navel orange worm. So I think we've got good things coming to us on the navel orangeworm,” Valov explained.