Light brown apple moth
Larvae of the light brown apple moth eat pretty much anything — this is never a good sign in a pest. By Anna Mouton. The light brown apple moth — Epiphyas postvittana — is a leaf-roller moth in the well-known…
Brown marmorated stink bug
What do growers, chocolate lovers, car manufacturers, and homeowners have in common? Hostility to brown marmorated stink bugs. By Anna Mouton. The brown marmorated stink bug — Halyomorpha halys — is a pentatomid bug. Familiar pentatomids include antestia — Antestiopsis…
Fire blight
A single outbreak of fire blight in Michigan led to the death of 220 000 apple trees and estimated losses of USD 42 million in 2000. This is not a disease we want in South Africa. By Anna Mouton. Fire…
Spotted-wing drosophila
Most drosophila fruit flies hang around overripe or rotting fruit. But the spotted-wing drosophila prefers to raise its offspring on fresh fruit. By Anna Mouton. Almost everyone is familiar with fruit flies in the genus Drosophila — they are those…
War on pests: the mass production of a biological wonder weapon
As the noose tightens around maximum residue limits, a local biocontrol method seems the perfect solution. But the road to commercialising entomopathogenic nematodes for biocontrol has been littered with speed bumps. By Esté Beerwinkel. Surrounded by binders on her desk,…
Soil’s Trojan horse
Is an affordable and effective biocontrol method at hand for the deciduous-fruit industry? After more than a decade of researching entomopathogenic nematodes, two Stellenbosch University researchers seem to think so. By Esté Beerwinkel. It’s dark. A population of false codling…
Fruit flies
Keeping your orchard pest-free. By Dane McDonald. It is the trouble every fruit grower is trying to avoid— finding a fruit-fly larva— just one hit can ruin the day, if not the entire season. “Nobody wants a maggot in their…
Nip phytosanitary risk in the bud
Dr Shelley Johnson, a quarantine entomologist, says the deciduous fruit industry’s export market is based on sound phytosanitary principles — monitoring in particular. By Dane McDonald. Johnson, a Hortgro and Stellenbosch University researcher, says the ideal way to manage phytosanitary…
Stopping the rot
What we’ve learnt about cankers in apple trees. By Grethe Bestbier. Canker development in newly established apple trees has been increasing in the Western Cape, with stem cankers responsible for losses of 30% and 70% respectively in two affected orchards…
Exterminate grain chinch-bugs
Trials using ethyl formate yield promising results. By Anna Mouton. “Phytosanitary issues are among the many challenges we face in the international trade of fresh fruit,” said Dr Shelley Johnson, research associate at Stellenbosch University. Johnson has been working on…