The laboratory is developing an integrated management strategy that foster predators of psylla through judicious use of insecticidal soaps and selective pesticides, while controlling codling moth with pheromone-based mating disruption. Basic aspects of psylla biology are also a major focus of investigation, including study of psylla dispersal and flight biology, and behavior-modifying chemicals associated with mating and host finding. Dr. Lisa G. Neven Agricultural commodities produced in the United States are often prohibited from entering countries where a pest does not occur, and quarantine treatments must be developed before quarantine regulations of those countries can be modified to allow importation of such commodities. Methyl Bromide is one of the last remaining fumigants available for treating fruits or vegetables, and it is slated to be banned in 2001. The quarantine treatment group develops innovative, effective and safe treatments or other procedures to meet all arthropod-based quarantine requirements for commodities for export and seeks methods for detection in the commodity of the insects being studied.
Current emphasis is on codling moth and other arthropod pests affecting apples, pears, and cherries.
Major concerns in recent years have been loss of chemicals due to economic, safety, health and environmental reasons, and insect resistance to pesticides. Research programs have recently focused on developing control strategies with reduced pesticide use by emphasizing utilization of biological control agents, insect resistant plants, cultural practices, and soft chemicals as components of integrated management systems for the Colorado potato beetle and the green peach aphid. Studies are also conducted to develop predictive epidemiological models of aphid-transmitted potato leafroll virus that can ultimately be incorporated into a comprehensive potato plant growth model used to advise growers on production strategies and to develop monitoring methods for wireworm larvae and adults in potato. These insects are important pests of irrigated vegetable crops in the Pacific northwest. They are simultaneously using laboratory and field trials to search for chemicals that are attractive to mate-seeking adults.