County Farm Bureaus hold webinar on pheromone use
to Kevin Herman and representatives of two aerosol manufacturers, Suterra and Semios. It costs roughly $10 an acre to install puffers and $10 an acre to take them down, representatives said. Puffer manufacturers said there is lit- tle likelihood NOW could develop re- sistance to pheromones. The panel said each aerosol emitter covers about 1 acre, and that the manufacturer takes care of cannister disposal as needed. The workshop also discussed or- chard sanitation. Kevin Herman said a machine he calls “the sanitizer” is an important complement to puffer technology, im- proving sanitation by going after mum- mies with a flail mower that is modified so it pulverizes them. It has blowers that blow any mummies on the berm area into the next row, and it has brush- es in the front to move mummies into “the kill zone.” Herman saidhis crews also do awinter mummy shake or hand pulling, particu- larly in figs. Asked if hemakesmultiple passeswith “the sanitizer,” Herman said it’s usually a single pass, but it needs to be done slowly enough to pulverize any mummies. A video of the presentat ion may be viewed at vfbshare.org; follow the Workshops link. (Denni s Pol lock i s a repor t er in F r e s no . He ma y b e c on t a c t e d a t agcompollock@yahoo.com.)
ByDennis Pollock An inaugural three-county Farm Bureau webinar on farming of specialty crops in the San Joaquin Valley featured a presentation in which the person be- lieved to be the largest grower of figs in the world endorsed use of aerosol emit- ters for pheromone disruption to combat the navel orangeworm. The navel orangeworm, or NOW, is de- scribed as the No. 1 enemy of almonds, but it also plagues other crops that in- clude pistachios and figs. Those are among the crops produced by KevinHerman, who farms 4,000 acres of figs in Madera, Fresno and Merced counties. His Specialty Crop Co. also grows walnuts, kiwifruit, persimmons and pomegranates. The Zoom presentation included the executive directors of the Tulare, Kings and Madera County Farm Bureaus. The Valley FarmBureau Specialty Crop Hub and Rural Education (S.H.A.R.E) pro- gram is a collaboration formed by the county Farm Bureaus to serve as an in- novative network of specialty crop grow- ers in the three counties, which have more than 824,000 cumulative acres in specialty crop production and 6,350 farming operations. ChristinaBeckstead, executivedirector of the Madera County Farm Bureau, in- troduced a video farm tour that featured Herman and his son talking of puffer technology. It opened with mention of restrooms that use puffers tomake them smell better. “It’s the same technology we use, but instead of puffing out something that is scented, its role is to create mating confusion in the navel orangeworm,” Herman said. His son, Erik Herman, oversees the puffer technology as head of marketing, sales and technology with the Specialty Crop Co. He explained that the system the company uses enables it to check rainfall, chill hours, temperatures, leaf wetness and puffer functionality. Puffers are placed high in the trees. Weather stationswith amotherboardde- termine the amount and timing of puffs. KevinHerman said it’s a good alterna- tive to pesticides for NOW control. “It’s not only good for the environment, it’s good for employees and saves us on labor,” Herman said. He said the puffers can be used on conventional and organic crops, but that growers should check with pest control advisors to determine if what the puffers use is certified as organic. He said all his fig, almond and pista- chio orchards have puffer technology, which has been used for about eight years. Herman said he is “tickled pink with the results.” The puffers prove most effective in a rectangular field that is not a “long, skin- ny field” or too small, he said, adding that it is important to work with neighbors to encourage them to employ the technol-
ogy as well, especially if a farmer has a small field. “I would not want to use this on any- thing smaller than a 40-acre parcel, un- less a bunch of my neighbors aroundme were also doing it,” he said. Use of the puffer technology saves at least one and perhaps two pesticide treatments every year, Herman said. He said thepuffers cost from$125 to$135per acre, a once-a-year expense that includes placing of the puffers, plus removal and service at harvest’s end. Herman said timing of puffer place- ment is not as crucial as the timing of pesticide sprays. He said the amount of pheromone released can be “dialed up or down,” depending on what is learned frommonitoring the amount of NOW in each area on a weekly basis. He pointed out the puffers affect only NOW, not other insects that could in- clude beneficials, and said he believes use of the puffers also improves quality. To explore puffer options, ErikHerman recommended conducting an internet search for “navel orangeworm puffers” or “reaching out to your PCA.” Tricia Stever Blattler, executive direc- tor of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, fielded questions after showing the farm-tour video, and passed themalong
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