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Fragrant Fix, Smell-Based Pheromones Offer Pesticide-Free Bug Control

Semios, a Vancouver, Canada, provider of real-time agricultural information and precision pest management tools, has been given U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval for the first aerosol pheromone-scent products shown effective in disrupting the mating of the codling moth and oriental fruit moth by attracting males to the females’ scent in spots devoid of mates. Pheromones are natural chemicals that many animals use to communicate within their species.

Unlike pesticides that kill a wide variety of insects, each pheromone targets a single pest species, leaving beneficial pollinators like bees and predators such as ladybugs unconfused and unharmed. One dispenser is hung in each acre and nothing is sprayed directly on the fruit. Pheromones don’t affect any other organisms, including humans, and can be used by both organic and conventional growers.

David Knight, owner of Knight’s Appleden Fruit, Ltd., in Colborne, Ontario, has used the Semios system for two seasons as part of a regulatory trial. He says, “I could see this technology becoming completely mainstream in our industry in the next five or six years.”

Traditional insecticides are expensive to buy and time-consuming and labor-intensive to apply. Because they’re toxic, workers can’t enter the orchard for a specified number of days after spraying. Knight adds that fruit growers that rely heavily on pollinators to produce their fruit are also keenly aware of the environmental risk posed by pesticides and welcome a natural and less costly alternative; only tiny amounts are needed.

Kirk Hillier, Ph.D., a biologist at Canada’s Acadia University, in Nova Scotia, who studies how insects communicate with pheromones, confirms that such scents have also been shown to be effective in both controlling a wider variety of agricultural and household pests and monitoring insects destructive to forests.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company

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Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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