Pear sucker, which has been so bad in some orchards in the past that they have had to be grubbed, promises to be less of a problem this UK top-fruit season.
Growers and their agronomists have become more savvy about how to encourage predators and they are using very effective, predator-friendly insecticides, according to Bayer CropScience.
Hutchinsons fruit agronomist Bob Little said: “Last year sucker was a big problem and we expected the same this year,” “We were very worried early in the year because we were finding quite a lot of sucker eggs but we will be looking after the predators better by using the right sprays at the right time.”
Little recommends the application of Envidor (spirodiclofen) after petal fall to kill the sucker eggs destined to produce the pest’s second generation.
Apart from its potent efficacy Envidor has the big advantage of being safe to anthocorid bugs, sucker’s main predator. This has a voracious appetite for all stages of the pest but it is sensitive to some of the sprays that can be applied to pears, maintains Bob.
“Anthocorids are very effective if allowed to build up. They live round the headlands in the winter and start moving into the pears during April once there is sufficient food for them,” he adds.
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