CHERRY FRUIT FLY CONTROL IN TART CHERRIES, 2008

The objective of this trial was to test the efficacy of various insecticides versus CFF in Tart Cherry. Single tree plots were established in a 17 yr old ‘Montmorency’ cherry block (Tart Cherry 4, tree spacing 15 x 20) at the Trevor Nichols Research Center in Fennville, MI. Plots were arranged in a RCB design with a minimum of one buffer tree and one buffer row separating all plots. Regular maintenance foliar applications were applied to all treatments and included the fungicides Bravo Weatherstick, Adament, Elite and Gem. Carmex and Touchdown were banded below the trees for weed control. Applications of test materials were made as outlined in Table 1 with an FMC 1029 tractor-mounted airblast sprayer calibrated to deliver 100 gpa at 2.5 mph. Cherry samples were harvested on 28 Jul by limb shaking/beating with fruit collected on a tarp. Samples weights were recorded in pounds. CFF infestation was sampled using the Washington State Department of Agriculture standard brown sugar method. In this method, cherries are carefully crushed in a solution of brown sugar and water (7 lb per 5 gal), and the maggots allowed to float to the surface and to be counted (Table 2). DFF larvae were also recorded. While actual counts are presented, ANOVA was run on square-root transformed data. Transformed treatment means were analyzed using ANOVA and means separation by Duncan’s New MRT at P > 0.05.