Twenty-five Years of Research Experience with the Sterile Insect Technique and Area-Wide Management of Codling Moth, (L.), in Canada.

The advent of novel genetic methods has led to renewed interest in the sterile insect technique (SIT) for management of insect pests, owing to applications in mass rearing and in the production of sterile offspring without use of irradiation. An area-wide management programme for codling moth, , has employed the SIT and other management practices over a large area (3395 to 7331 ha) of orchards and neighbouring urban, public, or First Nations lands in British Columbia, Canada, for 25 years. This project is the first to employ the SIT for , and the longest-running application of area-wide techniques for its control, anywhere.

Spatial Analysis of Seasonal Dynamics and Overwintering of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in the Okanagan-Columbia Basin, 2010-2014.

Spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), was monitored from 2010 to 2014 in 314-828 sites located in interior fruit-growing regions of OR and WA, United States, and BC, Canada, using traps baited with apple cider vinegar or sugar-water-yeast. Seasonal population dynamics and sex ratios were summarized for berry, cherry, stone fruit, grape, non-crop host plants, non-host sites, and for conventional IPM, certified organic, backyard, and feral sites, by region and year. Overwintering was detected in all regions and years, despite winter temperatures below -17°C.

Laboratory-based toxicological assessments of new insecticides on mortality and fecundity of Neoseiulus fallacis (Acari: Phytoseiidae).

Neoseiulus fallacis (Garman) is one of the most abundant predatory phytoseid in deciduous fruit orchards under an integrated pest management (IPM) regimen in eastern North America. Laboratory studies using N. fallacis, and the 'modified excised leaf disc method' identified four insecticides out of six, that would require second-tier field studies before inclusion in an IPM program for deciduous orchards.

A laboratory assessment of the toxic attributes of six 'reduced risk insecticides' on Galendromus occidentalis (Acari: Phytoseiidae).

The modified excised leaf disc method was used to measure the effects of six insecticides on eggs, larvae, adults, and female fecundity of Galendromus occidentalis (Nesbitt) in a 'worst case laboratory exposure'. This study identified insecticides that would be recommended for tier II field evaluations for an integrated pest management program. Commercially formulated insecticides were applied with a thin-layer chromatography sprayer adjusted to 10.

Effect of the width of the herbicide strip on mite dynamics in apple orchards.

Herbicide strips are used in apple orchards to promote tree growth and survival, to increase yield and to reduce the risk of rodent damage to tree bark. However, herbicide strips, particularly wider ones, may cause problems including soil erosion, reduced organic matter, leaching of nitrates into ground water and increased incidence of plant diseases and pests, including two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch. In this 2 year study we monitored mite dynamics in apple trees and used sticky bands on tree trunks to determine rates of T.