Pheroklip® OFM Mating disruption – how does it work?
Pheroklip® OFM dispensers are designed to release synthetic nature-identical pheromone steadily from when the packs are opened and applied in the orchard until after harvest.
The release rate is much higher than that of the female moth. Male Oriental fruit moths are overwhelmed by the amount of pheromone in the air and cease searching until their antennae can clear.
After three or four nights of this, they run out of energy. Females sit around waiting and use up their eggs as an energy reserve.
Hosts for OFM
Peach, nectarine, apricot, plums, pears, nashi and occasionally cherries and apples where they adjoin peaches, nectarines and pears.
In peaches and nectarines, the first generation lays eggs in the soft shoots. In pears, they go for the buds before they break dormancy.
Subsequent generations focus progressively more on the fruit as the shoots become less attractive.
Generations per year
Normally 4 per year.
What do Oriental fruit moth do in winter?
They overwinter as larvae under loose bark on the trunks of the trees in which they emerged.
They can also overwinter on limb props left in the orchards and in axils of limbs in young trees with soft bark. Very few of those that try to overwinter in the soil survive.
First flight
Usually just before early flowering time in peaches. Late dormancy in pears. Apply Pheroklip® OFM before first flight in spring.
How far will Oriental fruit moths fly?
Usually not large distances where host plants are available close by in the first two generations.
Oriental fruit moth females will fly hundreds of metres distance when the trees in which they emerge as adults are no longer attractive. For this reason, they home in on peaches and pears ripening late in the season.
Hygeine
It is vital to burn bulldozed trees and thoroughly steam clean bins where culled fruit was held before spring.
Be aware of untreated or conventionally sprayed orchards as sources of infestation on neighbouring properties.
Where do they mate? Where to apply Pheroklip® OFM?
Oriental fruit moth females mostly call their mates in the upper part of the tree canopy. As Pheroklip® OFM does not work by competition with females (like Pheroklip® CM) the height issue is not so critical.
Apply Pheroklip® OFM dispensers in the upper third of the canopy. Use a pole applicator where trees are tall.
What about high points, sloping ground and gaps?
Oriental fruit moths naturally accumulate more at edges by flying out then turning back.
High points and gaps are not a major issue. Monitor shoot strikes at the edges of blocks where immigration from neighbours or other parts of your orchard may be occurring.
If there is an issue with immigration of mated females from an adjoining crop, use an effective registered insecticide over the top of the Pheroklip® OFM treatment in the area where immigration is occurring.
What about high populations?
Mating disruption of Oriental moth is not a numbers game in the way it is with codling moth. However, immigration from untreated neighbouring blocks is a bigger issue.
When populations of Oriental fruit moth in the surrounding district are high and you have late varieties, use a combination of an effective registered insecticide program and Pheroklip® OFM at the first sign of invasion.
What guarantees does Smartgreen Biotech give?
- The active ingredient is good quality with a purity equal to or slightly higher than the Japanese opposition product
- The loading is correct
- The release from the dispensers is in the right range
- The dispensers are made to high standard using precision injection moulding and ultrasonic sealing processes
- The information that we give is based on years of experience and is given in good faith.