Organic proves productive

Peter Hall explains how the Exosex mating disruption system works. Pheromone lures and pheromone-impregnated powder are placed in dispensers on a 20-meter (66-foot) grid in the orchard. Male moths that are lured into the dispensers, which resemble wing traps, and become coated with the powder. Their pheromone receptors become overloaded so they cannot detect females. When they exit the dispensers, the males act as mobile pheromone dispensers, causing confusion among other male moths and reducing their chances of mating. Geraldine Warner Peter Hall planted a ten-acre apple block in his U.K. orchard in 2007 to demonstrate the feasibility of growing […]