Pheromone mating disruption
- Pheromone mating disruption systems have been developed for summer fruit tortrix moth in continental Europe.
- One system uses red spaghetti double tube plastic dispensers, one tube containing the pheromone, the other a metal wire to give rigidity.
- The dispensers are wrapped round the branch of a tree.
- A typical application rate is 1000 dispensers per ha, one application being required per season.
- The system was developed to control summer fruit tortrix moth and other tortrix moths, such as Pandemis heparana and Archips rosana, and uses a common pheromone component (Z11-14:Ac).
- Pheromone mating disruption systems have a number of important limitations.
- They are only effective if populations of the target pest are low initially; they have to be applied over a large area; they are generally costly in comparison with insecticides and they have a high labour requirement for application.
- There are no pheromone mating disruption systems approved for use in the UK.