Pioneers of Integrated Pest Management
Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center entomologists pioneer environmentally friendly pest control
If it has to do with managing insect pests to grow better tree fruit, chances are it originated at the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee.
 Jay Brunner, nemesis of the codling moth, developed a way to use pheromones to disrupt their mating cycle. |
For decades, entomologists here have pioneered environmentally friendly ways to control the myriad insects that make growing quality tree fruit difficult, or in some cases, impossible. In the tree fruit industry, names like Stanley Hoyt and Jay Brunner are synonymous with innovative solutions for pest problems.
"This wasn't a very large research station until after World War II," said Hoyt, a former TFREC Director. "That was when we started having three entomologists here; the insect problems were really raising their head."
Hoyt is generally credited with starting what has become a world-renowned integrated mite management program for apples. His work on biological control of mites began in the early 1960s when spider mites threatened the entire apple industry.
After extensive research and observation, he found that the miticides growers were using did a better job of killing the mites' natural predators than the mites themselves, which had quickly developed a resistance to the chemical.
Outsmarting the pests
In 1965, working with local WSU Extension educator Bill Hudson, Hoyt set up what became the first large commercial use of Integrated Pest Management. Growers found relief by avoiding insecticides that damaged natural predators and either reducing or eliminating other chemicals such as fruit thinning agents or changing the way they were applied. The result? A healthy crop with fewer pesticides and less money spent on inputs. "The predators did the job, and we took the credit," Hoyt has said.
 Adult coddling moth...
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Brunner tackled another nemesis of tree fruit--the codling moth, literally the "worm in the apple." He developed a way to use pheromones to disrupt the moths' mating cycle, thus reducing reliance on broad-spectrum insecticides.
Brunner and Hoyt's work gave rise to the new and burgeoning organic tree fruit industry, which many say would not exist without their ground-breaking efforts.
"When I first started," said organic orchardist Ray Fuller, "there were not very many tools to use in pest control. It was more a matter of 'Well, that block has more codling moth; it's the first to go.'"
Applying ecological principles
Brunner said IPM has been the basis for the success of the Washington tree fruit industry in the recent past and will be the basis of its success in the future.
"Pest management evolves naturally from an understanding of biological processes," he said. "More and more, the reliance on conventional broad-spectrum insecticides is diminishing in many apple orchards as new pest control tactics are introduced. Along with public concern about pesticide residues on food and farm worker safety issues, the development of pesticide resistance in pests, especially codling moth, has brought a new sense of urgency for alternatives. The challenge for researchers is to develop alternative pest control tactics as part of a complete management program that maintains the yield and quality expected by growers and demanded by consumers.
"I firmly believe that IPM, which is grounded in the principles of ecology, is the best stewardship blueprint for agriculture." -Kathy Barnard
Weathering It Out
Imagine: it's wet outside and you're agonizing over whether to spray your crop or garden to prevent a mildew infection. Cutting-edge decision-making help is just a couple clicks away, thanks to WSU's new AgWeatherNet. A wireless network of 120 weather stations distributed throughout the state is analyzing near real-time data to aid growers in pest- and disease-control decisions. Ag WeatherNet was developed and deployed by a group of WSU researchers and staff led by Gary Grove, a plant pathologist at WSU's Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser.
Behind the handsome Web-based interface, AgWeatherNet is crunching through years of pest and disease research to give growers up-to-the-minute information about pests and diseases associated with particular climatic conditions.
"Having the most accurate weather information is critical for the tree fruit industry," said Dan Kelly, assistant manager for the Washington Growers Clearing House. "Each year, we face serious impacts due to weather events. If this research identifies a better way to relay weather data, particularly in areas that cannot be covered with conventional methods, it could help prevent crop loss." -Brian Clark
Stan Hoyt, Pioneer of IPM
Nothing Bugs Betsy Beers (Except Pests!)
There is never a once-and-for-all solution to tree-fruit pests. TFREC's Betsy Beers, the entomologist hired to take Stan Hoyt’s place when he retired, says, “We are the plate spinners.”
Integrated pest management is a juggling act. Orchards are dynamic systems and pest populations rise and fall with changes in temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction and a host of other factors. Then there are always humans moving things around—food and goods—while pests hitch rides and colonize new ecological niches.
“We want to finesse these systems to reduce pesticide use,” says Beers. Chemical controls are always a last resort for integrated management systems.
Integrated mite control has worked better in the Wenatchee valley and for longer than anywhere else in the world, Beers says, but the times, they are a’changing. The old balance between chemical control of mites and mites and their predators has shifted as old pesticides have been phased out and new ones have come into play.
And when the entomologists get things in balance, Beers says, the horticulturists come up with a new and improved variety—and the whole plate-spinning routine begins anew.
Beers is a consummate plate-spinner. In addition to having worked on dozens of pest issues over the years, she’s also taken thousands of photographs. The photos help everybody in the industry identify the problem they’re dealing with as well as form a cornerstone of pest biology.
Like rust, pests never give up and so entomologists have job security. Their job is keeping our food supply safe and fit to eat and profitable for farmers. -Brian Clark
Betsy Beers with her special bugging-shooting camera.
Connections Contents
Special feature: Tree fruit research at WSU
- The Sunburn Doctor
- New Orchard is Big Lab
- Searching the Genetic Landscape
- Organic Tree Fruit
- Food Safety
- A Rotten Problem
Web exclusive: in the depths of the Holland Library archives we discovered two lost manuscripts written in the early 1950s by tree fruit research pioneer Fred Overly: "From Whence Came: The Varieties of Fruit We Are Now Growing" and "History and Development of Apple Production in Washington."
A Trace of History: LA Students to Design, Build Display Garden
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