Apple, Tenlined June Beetle Control, 1994

Experiments were conducted in a two-year-old ‘Braeburn’ planting in Malaga, WA on sandy soil. Pest presence was identified by digging up trees with typical symptoms (wilting, curled leaves, water stress and reduced terminal growth) caused by larval feeding on roots. A complete randomized design with six replicates per treatment was used. Treatments consisted of three species of entomopathogenic nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae (All Strain) Weiser; S. feltiae (SN strain) Filipjev; S. glaseri Steiner); and Nemacur 3ES, an insecticide/nematicide. Nematode species were applied on 31 May with a hand-operated soil injector (Marayuma 3MI, Tokyo, Japan) at three depths (10, 20 and 30 cm) and six locations 20 cm away from the base of the trunk. Nematodes were delivered at a rate of 240,000 per tree (1 billion/acre) in approximately 110 ml of water. Holes were filled with soil after application. After treatment trees were irrigated for 3 h with undertree impact sprinklers. Nemacur 3ES was applied on 9 Jun to a 2 m wide weed-free strip beneath the trees with a weed sprayer at a rate of 3.3 gal/treated acre. Plots were evaluated on 11 Jul by digging up the trees and the surrounding soil (1 m diameter × 0.6 m depth) and counting live TJB larvae.