Conneticut IPM Grower
| Jonathan Bishop Conneticut IPM Grower |
|
photo by Carrie Koplinka-Loehr
The most unusual fact about Bishop's Orchards isn't that it has been
a family-owned business for 125 years, although that is certainly worthy
of mention. In fact, co-owner Jonathan, a 5th generation Bishop, can lay
a hand on the apple trees that were planted by his great grandfather in
1928.
What makes the orchards unique is the sight that beholds visitors when they
drive to Guilford, a coastal Connecticut town, on an early summer day. The
trees are decorated with red plastic fruit, awaiting the first customers-which
happen to be flies. Bishop's Orchard is the largest in the country to "trap
out" apple maggot flies, a serious pest in the Northeast.
While most other producers spray a series of insecticides to prevent the
fly from laying an egg inside the fruit, Jonathan and his family take a
different tack. They coat 1,800 spheres with a mixture of paint, sugar water,
and trace quantities of insecticide. (There is never more insecticide on
the sphere than is allowed on the finished fruit.) Once they hang these
spheres in the orchards, the apple maggot flies are attracted to them, feed,
fly off, then die.
One advantage to this labor-intensive method is that pesticide use for the
orchard can be measured in ounces instead of pounds, and targeted to the
tiny fly that feeds on it. A second advantage is that as insecticide
applications
are delayed or avoided, populations of beneficial predators can build. These
predators control leafminers, mites, and other pests. "Some blocks
in the orchard have had no miticides in ten years," says Jonathan.
Considering the expense of miticides, the savings are considerable. "I
guess we've also reduced our late-season insecticides by 70 to 80 percent,"
he reports. "We never treat for green aphids and grain aphids."
Jonathan's unassuming demeanor hides the IPM renegade he truly is. In 1990
he asked Lorraine Los at the University of Connecticut about trapping out
apple maggots. She encouraged him to participate in an experiment that lasted
four years and led to collaboration with entomologist Ron Prokopy at the
University of Massachusetts. Now Bishop's Orchards is the largest orchard
in the Northeast with a trap-out/reduced spray program. The farm consists
of 145 acres of apples and 175 acres of pears, peaches, small fruits, U-pick
vegetables, fields, and woods.
Jonathan participated for two years in the University of Connecticut's
full-season
training program during the mid-1980s. This program provides fruit growers
with hands-on learning throughout the growing season. "We've always
had good access to UConn personnel," says Jonathan. "Working with
them gives us confidence to try something new."
Even at the administrative level, Jonathan keeps testing new waters. He
recently helped to set research and extension priorities as part of an IPM
Initiative planning team. He sees a strong need for disease-resistant plantings
and reliable monitoring techniques. He also is convinced that a
"conventional"
grower no longer exists. "Once you know IPM works," says Jonathan,
"you can't go backwards. It's not possible."
return to IPM in the Northeast Region 1996 Report, Table
of Contents