Commercially Produce Certified Organic Cherries in Canada.
May 2009 by Kathryn Miskulin
Cherry fruit fly (CFF) was a major barrier to expansion of organic cherry production in the Pacific Northwest of Canada and the United States because there was no effective organic product for controlling CFF until Entrust and GF-120 became registered.
Entrust (OMRI approved), a Spinosad, is an antibiotic product of a soil actinomycete (explanation) (image) demonstrating rapid contact and ingestion activity in a variety of insects. The mode of action of Spinosad is characterized by excitation of the insect nervous system, leading to involuntary muscle contractions, prostration with tremors, and paralysis. Spinosad also has effects on GABA receptor function that may contribute further to its insect activity. To read more about Spinosad read "Development of Spinosad and Attributes of A New Class of Insect Control Products".
Entrust controls the CFF adult and many caterpillar larvae and is applied 6 days after a fly is caught on a trap. GF-120, a Spinosad bait, is another product for controlling CFF adults but has no efficacy on caterpillar larvae and needs to be applied as soon as a fly is caught. The advantages of GF-120 is a re-entry interval (REI) once the spray has dried, it can be applied up to harvest (pre-harvest interval) PHI = 0 days and 10 applications are allowed per season. Entrust REI is 24 hours (WCB), has a PHI of 7 days and only 4 applications are allowed per season.
Refer to the following web sites for information on the Cherry Fruit Fly:
Contact www.dowagro.com for Entrust and GF-120 information and labels. Search under GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait and open the file GF-120 NF Naturalyte Fruit Fly Bait Fact Sheet for important tank mixing information.
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Feature Article - Growing Organic Cherries
