Sanitation for Navel Orangeworm Critical

Mandatory Sanitation and Almonds and Pistachios to Fight Navel Orangeworm?

By Patrick Cavanaugh AgInfo.net

In the cotton pink bollworm program sanitation, a mandatory plow down of cotton stubble was a big part of the bollworm eradication strategy. Similarly in tree nuts the mummy nuts left in the tree post-harvest must be removed as they often harbor navel orangeworm larvae.

Joel Siegel is a USDA ARS entomologist based at Kearney near Fresno. He spoke recently at the American pistachio growers annual conference.

“Sanitation was a key element of the pink bollworm program. In fact, it was mandatory sanitation complete with people going out and checking and there were penalties for people that didn’t sanitize.,” noted Siegel. “One of the things that government does is they like to repeat all of the elements of what they think of as a successful program. If APHIS is making the investment, which they are in terms of providing the sterile insects for this navel orange worm program, logically they’re probably going to want mandatory sanitation as well.”

Again, it may be required to follow through with mandatory sanitation.

“There are challenges because we don’t have a standard. So what I tell people is to plan on getting everything out of the tree,” Siegel said.