Review of potential control strategies for major pests in organic apple and pear production, with application in IPM orchards

Growers of organic tree fruit can have difficulty controlling pests and diseases that are more easily supressed in conventional orchards by chemical synthetic insecticides and fungicides. In recent decades, there has been a move towards growing organic produce from pome fruit varieties not originally cultivated for organic production (e.g. Gala), to meet retailer/consumer demand. This inevitably makes crop protection in organic orchards more challenging as modern varieties are often less tolerant to pests. In addition, there have been substantial changes to plant protection product (PPP) approvals in recent years resulting in fewer conventional PPPs (CPPPs) available for Integrated Pest Management maintained orchards.

This report will be useful for both organic and conventional tree fruit growers interested in adopting more environmentally sustainable practices in orchards in the future.

This information was last updated in 2021.