Student Poster Display
Plant-Insect Ecosystems
Student
Student Competition
Martin Brubaker Salcedo
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Julianna Wilson
Assistant Professor
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Hail netting in apple orchards has been proposed as a way of reducing damage from severe storms, protect fruits from sunburn, to prevent pressure from larger insects and birds, and recently it has been suggested as a possible way to thin apples organically. Some studies have shown that hail netting is indeed an effective measure to protect apples from larger motile arthropods like Cydia Pomonella, but it also had increased infestations in other species like Eriosoma Lanigerum. While others tested the effects in larger cage nets, we looked at the effects of drape-style hail netting which were zip tied around the trunks of a single row of trees. This is important because a primary parasite of Eriosoma Lanigerum, Aphelinus Mali tends to hop rather than fly, thus potentially excluding a major natural enemy. For this study we had three farm sites with two sampling locations each. We assessed traps under trees with hail netting and non-netted trees. We laid out traps for Cydia Pomonella and Quadraspidiotus perniciosus, checked for fruit damage by Conotrachelus Nenuphar, conducted aerial colony assessments for Eriosoma Lanigerum, and placed out passive glue traps to look at natural enemy presence. We will be assessing the effects of nets from early may until post-harvest. Similar to other studies we have found the trees with hail netting have completely excluded Cydia Pomonella and even Grapholita molesta compared to the non-netted control. We hope to see the effects of hail netting on other species later in the summer.