06/28/07 Fighting the Pests

Fighting the Pest. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. A number of years ago, the Milton-Freewater, Oregon area was the site of a codling moth third strike and the community doesn't want a repeat. They have agreed to a county oversight board to manage diseases and pests for orchardists in the area according to OSU Extension Agent, Clive Kaiser. KAISER: The fruit farmers in the valley, because Milton-Freewater is smack dab in the middle of a major fruit producing area, the fruit producers have been under pressure on the border of the city from codling moth and fruit fly coming out of the home gardeners orchards or home gardeners fruit trees. Home owners are supposed to spray their fruit trees  apple trees every 10-14 days and cherry trees every 7 days. But the problem is not these home gardeners according to Kaiser. KAISER: The home owners who look after their trees obviously don't pose a problem; it's the ones who don't look after their trees. A single codling moth can produce 50 eggs in one lay which again can produce 50 eggs and you can have anything between 3 and 4 generations in one season. So the net result is that you could have millions of codling moth out there from just one single abandoned or unattended tree. The county commissioners and orchard growers are developing a plan of action and hope to have it in place by next March. The cost for an infestation is too high. KAISER: Well just in 2004 if you want to put some statistics in there, the Northwest Horticulture Council estimated it cost the Pacific Northwest $26 million dollars in lost revenue from that third strike. The Milton-Freewater fruit industries are worth an estimated $85-million dollars a year which constitutes a third of the cities economy so it's not small change we're talking about. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.