Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture - Cranberry Insect Pest Monitoring in New Brunswick, 1997

Abstract: Insect pests were monitored at cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) sites in Oromocto West and Maugerville, New Brunswick during 1997 to determine when control methods would be required. Pheromone traps were used to monitor the following moths: blackheaded fireworm, Rhopobota naevana (Hübner); cranberry girdler, Chrysoteuchia topiaria (Zeller); sparganothis fruitworm, Sparganothis sulfureana (Clemens). Results from the Oromocto West site were: 1) blackheaded fireworm, trapped from 8 July to 25 August, with peak captures on 15 and 28 July and 5 August; 2) cranberry girdler, trapped from 8 July to 11 August, with peak captures on 15 and 24 July; 3) sparganothis fruitworm, trapped at low levels from 28 July to 21 August. Results from pheromone trap captures provided information for timing of insecticide applications, applied on 11 July and 5 and 14 August. Cranberry plants were sampled for damage by the cranberry tipworm, Dasyneura vaccinii (Smith). An average of 24.6% of plant tips, over the entire sampling period, had been damaged by the cranberry tipworm. A survey of insect populations with a sweep net revealed no significant levels of additional insect pests. A pre-harvest assessment, of three hundred cranberries, done at Oromocto West on 29 September revealed 0.7% of berries with obvious feeding damage from insects plus 6.7% of berries being mushy and shriveled, from an undetermined cause. Pheromone traps for the three aforementioned moth species were also set up at a site in Maugerville, which had been established in 1996. None of the moth species were trapped on their respective traps.

¹Potato & Horticulture Branch, NBDARD, Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1