Monitoring Insect Population Dynamics in Willamette Valley Hazelnut Orchards Through Novel Integrated Pest Management Strategies

Abstract

Hazelnuts, one of the largest crops within the Willamette Valley, OR, have expanded rapidly, partially due to the timely and cost effective use of new technologies, such as spraying for filbertworm management. Although there are many insects in an orchard, the Filbertworm (Cydia latiferreana) is cited as the most destructive to hazelnut crops due to larvae burrowing into kernels and decreasing market profits for farmers (OSU Extension, 1965). Populations of filbertworm are modernly managed with broad spectrum insecticide applications, which can be harmful to all organisms inside and outside of an orchard, including humans. With the simultaneous use of cover crops, pheromone disruption may be a viable alternative pest management strategy to target the Filbertworm while also reducing pesticide use and maintaining beneficial arboreal insect populations orchard settings. In this research, I aimed to understand (1.1) How effective is pheromone dispensing when combined with cover crops and (1.2) without the use of broad spectrum insecticide in reducing insect pests, and (2) how does insect diversity - including the abundance of beneficial species – change? When testing these questions, some trends that emerged were a shift in pest families between management types, and greater observed beneficial and neutral insect abundances using alternative management, although trends were not statistically significant. This research is important as agriculture expands and intensifies due to rising populations. Understanding methods that impose as little harm as possible is increasingly pressing.