Integrated pest management. False codling moth (S.D. Moore). It is utterly imperative that the False Codling Moth Management System (FMS) for citrus, including the False Codling Moth (FCM) Systems Approach, be implemented diligently and thoroughly. Neither growers nor the industry can afford a lapse in the implementation of comprehensive and effective management practices. The details of all of these practices are described in the FMS, with reference to CRI’s IPM Guidelines for FCM Management (available on the CRI website). These Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) must be followed as described.
One of the most important practices is orchard sanitation, which must be conducted at least weekly in all orchards, also for lemons. This involves not only collecting and destroying fallen fruit, but also removing all hanging fruit that appear damaged or infested in any way. It has been shown that such a practice can effectively remove an average of up to 75% of FCM larvae from an orchard. In the hotter summer months orchard sanitation should be increased to at least twice a week, in order to have the same effect. Fruit must not be mulched inside the orchard. Although lemons at the commercially ripe stage for export are not a host to FCM, very small and over-ripe lemons can host FCM, which can result in lemon orchards being a source of FCM for adjacent and nearby orchards of FCM-susceptible cultivars. This makes sanitation in lemon orchards as important as in orchards of other citrus types.
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Source:
Hannes Bester, MC Pretorius, Wayne Mommsen, Coenraad Fraenkel, André Combrink, Natasha Jackson and Jan Landman (CRI)
SA Fruit Journal
