Apple, Apple Aphid Control, 1979

Test materials were applied to 9-yr-old apple trees on Jun 28 at Monmouth, Maine, as dilute sprays with a handgun from a hydraulic sprayer operating at 100 psi at a rate of ca. 200 gal/A. The fungicide cover program (rates as/100 gal) during the course of this experiment consisted of captan 80W (.625 lb) + Benlate 50W (2 oz) which was sprayed on the trees on Jul 2 and 16. There were no tank-mixtures of insecticides with fungicides. There were 2 single-tree replications/treatment. A randomized complete block design was utilized with 2 'Mcintosh' culfivars/treatment. Prior to treatment, 10 succulent terminal vegetative shoots (5 with high aphid counts and 5 with low counts) were tagged around the periphery of each tree at a height of 3 to 6 ft. Evaluation was based on a count of all live aphids found on the distal 4 unfurled and 1 furled leaves and on the stem included by these leaves on each tagged terminal shoot. Aphid population pressure was somewhat severe. Jul was hot and dry except for heavy rains on Jul 1, 16, and 17.