Straight answers, sourced.
No. This is the single most important answer on the page. Sterile insect release is a layer on top of your existing program, not a replacement for it. Do not reduce sprays until trap counts or fruit damage actually decline. The most damaging episode in the history of codling moth sterile release happened when growers cut their own control before the evidence justified it.
Over time, as a piece of an IPM program, yes. A first season combines sterile release with the existing spray program and mating disruption. As the wild population diminishes across seasons, reliance on those inputs decreases, and the release rate can step down to the maintenance rate. The evidence for each step is trap counts and harvest damage, not the calendar.
The technique has been in commercial use against codling moth since orchard trials in British Columbia from 1962 to 1970, and the Okanagan-Kootenay program has operated continuously since 1992. Sterile release eradicated pink bollworm from the United States, a comparable moth pest, with eradication declared in 2018 after more than 11 billion sterile moths were released. What we will not do is quote you a percentage reduction in damage or spray load for Washington, because we have not seen a figure for this state we can source properly.
No. This is area-wide suppression. Eradication is a different goal that requires quarantine measures and restrictions on the movement of fruit and bins, which a suppression program does not impose.
The standard release rate is 800 sterile moths per acre. Difficult blocks are sometimes run at 1,600 per acre or moved to 2 releases a week. Releases repeat weekly for as long as adults are flying, roughly 20 releases across a season, because sterile males have to be present continuously.
In most cases, yes, at least at first. SIR and mating disruption are complementary tools that work through distinct pathways.
Probably the wrong question. When 76 Virginia apple growers were surveyed, roughly half named the size of their operation as a barrier, but orchard size did not predict who adopted. What matters far more is the pressure in the block and whether the orchards around it are covered.
This is the real weakness of any area-wide approach. Where the orchards around you are covered, their release works on your pressure and coverage compounds. Where it stops, your block carries whatever arrives from outside it. The published record puts a number on a gap: a single non-cooperating orchard inside a treated area produced localized damage of 0.07 percent at harvest in 1978 and needed intervention.
Not on its own, and a program worth hiring will tell you so. Sterile release suppresses a population that is already low. A block that has run high for 2 consecutive seasons is typically a multi-year project, commonly 5 years or more, using several tools together. Bring pressure down first, then release.
Possibly not. Codling moth programs use inherited sterility, which works by making the next generation fail rather than by preventing eggs outright. F1 larvae exist, hatch, and some sting fruit before dying. Count deep entries, the tunnels that reach the seed cavity, and track the trend across the season.
No. A sterile codling moth mates with codling moth and does nothing else. The technique is species specific because it works through reproduction rather than toxicity. What can change is the balance of secondary pests, which follows from changes in your spray program. Watch your mites.
No. Insects have low mass, a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, and a protective exoskeleton, which together give them a very low terminal velocity. Drone release also outperforms ground release: the British Columbia program found recapture rates 40 to 70 percent higher.
No. Irradiating something does not make it radioactive, in the same way a patient receiving radiation therapy does not become radioactive.
Half rate (400 moths per acre per week) $340, full rate (800) $425, and double rate (1,600) $595 per acre per season for 5 to 100 acres, with lower rates above 100 and above 1,000 acres. Every rate includes 20 full-service releases.
Organic orchards can spend $1,000 or more per acre on conventional methods, and conventional orchards typically $300 to $400 per acre on sprays. SIT may initially match those costs and reduces future spray needs as the population declines.
Sterile insect release fits within USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Practice Code 595, Pest Management Conservation System. Terms and signup windows are set by NRCS and change, so we do not quote a deadline or promise a percentage. Contact your local NRCS Service Center and begin a whole-farm conservation plan.
Ask us and we will tell you what we know, and what we do not.