Dive into bins

In 1999, Brad Higbee and his colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s laboratory in Wapato, Washington, published in Good Fruit Grower their findings on codling moth larvae infestation of harvest bins.

“We have observed that pheromone traps near bin piles consistently trap more moths than other traps in the vicinity, and, more worrisome, fruit damage often occurs,” they wrote.

That finding inspired two studies looking at infestation rates of plastic and wooden bins, and whether that infestation was driven by infested fruit or simply by larvae seeking shelter for overwintering.

At the Codling Moth Summit in February, Higbee said the findings remain relevant for growers today, so we’ve made the full report available online at: adobe.ly/3wAuUV6.