New Tool for pre harvest control of Carpophilus beetle in Stonefruit

Marc Fox, product manager for Bayer CropScience says “Vayego 200SC contains tetraniliprole, a new active ingredient developed by Bayer. Both fast acting and long lasting, it delivers an IPM solution for control of carpophilus beetle. With broad spectrum insecticides currently being used for carpophilus beetle control being highly disruptive to beneficial insects, it’s exciting to bring another new IPM suitable product into the Summerfruit sector”

Marc continues, “Vayego has several benefits. As well as being very effective at controlling carpophilus, it is soft on beneficial species, including predatory mites. It also has an excellent user safety profile when used as directed and is highly rainfast.”

Carpophilus davidsoni, which is the most prevalent of the species in New Zealand orchards, is particularly aggressive in stone fruit, including cherries. The adult beetles can cause direct feeding damage in ripening stone fruit. The adult beetles are also a major vector of fungal diseases, including brown rot (Monilinia spp.), in a wide range of host crops.

While good orchard hygiene, such as removal of fallen and damaged fruit to reduce availability of breeding sites can contribute to the control of this pest, good hygiene practices alone do not often provide adequate control. With multiple overlapping generations each year and adult beetles emerging from the orchard floor or flying in from neighboring orchards to attack fruit, they can pose a real problem.

Given carpophilus beetles attack the ripening fruit, protecting fruit close to the harvest of fruit can be problematic. Marc says, “The other great benefit of Vayego is that it has a 4 day PHI for local market crops, meaning applications can be timed for maximum impact, ensuring yield and quality can be maximized.”  

Growers should monitor orchards for beetles as fruit approaches maturity and become susceptible to attack. The first application should commence before beetle populations reach damaging levels. Monitoring should continue to gauge if a second application is necessary after 14 to 21 days