Performance of membrane dispensers for combined mating disruption of oriental fruit moth 'Grapholita molesta' (Busck) and codling moth 'Cydia pamonella' L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in pears

Codling moth (CM) and oriental fruit moth (OFM) are very important orchard pests both worldwide and in Australia where they severely damage pome fruit in the State of Victoria. Codling moth and OFM have been controlled by pheromone-mediated mating disruption with reasonable success, but treating pome fruit with full registered rates of separate, hand-applied dispensers for CM and OFM could be labour intensive and uneconomical for growers. Field trials were conducted to compare Disrupt CM/OFM COMBO pheromone dispensers, designed to simultaneously disrupt both CM and OFM with Disrupt CM and Disrupt OFM dispensers applied individually for the control of CM and OFM in pears. The application of combined and individualspecies dispensers on pears reduced moth catches and fruit damage of both species to a similar level. The OFM control, in particular, was significantly more effective than the untreated control. These results suggest that combined control of CM and OFM in pears by applying Disrupt CM/OFM COMBO dispensers at the full-recommended rate of 500 dispensers per hectare could be reasonably effective on pears if the pest population is low, but the release characteristics of these dispensers indicate the potential for poor control under higher pest pressure situations.