Avoid applying directly around the main branches, because of the risk of later girdling them. Apply to sturdy limbs that won't bend too low with the weight of fruit later in the season. Pheromone dispensers must be placed uniformly throughout the treated orchard. If a few trees are missing, place the extra dispensers in the surrounding trees. Likewise, if there are scattered small interplants in the block, place the dispensers that these trees would have received in the surrounding taller trees, so that dispensers are not placed just six feet or less from the ground.
Charts are available with guidelines for dispenser spacing based upon many different tree spacings.
A particularly complete set was developed by Kelly Denton, coordinator of the Howard Flat CAMP site. The chart is available from Kelly or by contacting me. With experience, crews have applied 400 Isomate dispensers per acre in no more than two man-hours per acre. Even less time per application is needed for the Checkmate and Disrupt dispensers, applied twice per season at 120-160 and 200 dispensers per acre, respectively. Ladders can also be used for dispenser application but this method takes considerably more time and increases the accident risk.