Won't somebody please think of the children?! Exploiting sex pheromones to disrupt San Jose scale mating

San Jose scale (SJS), Comstockaspis pernicious (Comstock), is a phytophagous insect pest species that infests an enormous variety of plant hosts worldwide and is currently one of the most concerning pests of peach production in the southern US. SJS damage peaches by directly feeding on the plant tissues, which can cause leaf chlorosis, twig or limb die-back, and even death of trees if scale populations reach high levels. Currently, the primary means of scale management are two dormancy applications of horticultural oils. Unfortunately, either from inadequate application rates, misapplications, or poor timing of applications, SJS pressure is increasing in southern peach orchards, which subsequently leads to applications of additional insecticides. After years of intense scale management, we are now facing the risk of severe losses in tree health and productivity. Thus, southern peach growers are desperate for a more effective and sustainable strategy for managing SJS. One such tactic may be “mating disruption,” which utilizes sex pheromones to prevent male insects from finding females and mating. The sex pheromone for SJS has been isolated and has been shown to successfully attract
SJS males (Rice and Hoyt, 1980). Moreover, SJS females are non-parthenocarpic, so they cannot
reproduce in the absence of males. Thus, mating disruption has the potential to be an effective management tool for SJS southeastern peach production. This presentation will present results from several years evaluating the potential use of mating disruption for SJS management in southern peach production.