Potential effectiveness of natural enemies of apple pests

• All the pests of apple and pear have a number of predators and/or parasites that attack them. These natural enemies can act as natural regulators of pest populations.
• Some pests have a key natural enemy, or a complex of natural enemies, which effectively regulate populations and damage by that pest, preventing serious pest outbreaks and consequent economic damage, providing the natural enemies are allowed to thrive.
• Other natural enemies are more polyphagous feeding on a wide range of prey including pest and benign species as the opportunity arises. These contribute generally to the reduction in pest populations.

‘Potential Effectiveness of Natural Enemies’ table