Mating disruption is becoming a viable option for navel orangeworm management. UC Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management Advisor David Haviland has been researching the practice with impressive results for some time and said growers should consider it as part of a management system.
Some of the first products came out in 2006 and the main complaint from growers was the high cost, leaving a bad taste in their mouth about the practice. However, Haviland also did a cost study during his research and he said the math worked out in the end.
Listen to Haviland’s interview.
From the UC IPM Guidelines Website:
Mating disruption is a relatively new technique for managing navel orangeworm in almonds. As a supplemental management tool, use mating disruption in conjunction with strategically applied insecticides, most notably in orchards with high numbers of navel orangeworm or in the first years of a mating disruption program. Mating disruption dispensers should be hung from sturdy limbs midway up the tree in late March or early April according to manufacturer’s guidance. In areas where the wind blows from one predominant direction, traps should be placed so there is a higher density of traps on the windward edge (upwind) of the orchard.