By Chelsea Low, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences intern
LONG BEACH, Wash. – Kim Patten has been fighting cranberry pests for 20 years.
“I’ve made inroads on most of the major pests,” said the WSU Extension professor and director of the research and extension unit in Long Beach.
“Three of the toughest weeds and two of the toughest insects are now controllable,” he said. Nonetheless, “We still have a few major challenges left.
Solutions aid growers in large area
“We are working on these long-standing pest management problems in parts of southwest Washington, northwest Oregon and Canada,” he said. “Our goal is to supply growers with applied solutions, as producers in all these locations face the same problems.”
Those solutions must be affordable, effective and safe for humans, wildlife and the environment, Patten said.
For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada are reassessing the health and environmental risks involved with widespread use of organophosphates on crops to combat pests and weeds.
“Cranberries, in particular, are hard hit, as we have few effective chemicals that can be used as replacements,” Patten said. “Control of insect pests on cranberries grown in Canada has been limited to Diazinon, but it is being phased out in 2012 with no alternatives yet available.”
Best ways to use new tools
Patten is using chemigation application methods to test new pesticides under consideration as replacements for organophosphate-based chemicals aimed at fireworm, weevil and tipworm.
With chemigation, growers are able to apply pesticides through their sprinkler irrigation systems. The challenge, Patten said, “is to obtain an acceptable level of efficacy with the new soft-impact reduced-risk insecticide when using a chemigation application method.”
Patten also is investigating control of weeds such as buttercup, loosestrife and sheep sorrel using three new herbicides. They are effective post-emergence weed killers but are not yet officially registered for use.
“Getting herbicides registered on a minor crop like cranberries is about a 10-year effort, with many roadblocks along the way,” Patten said. “We’re figuring out the best ways to use these new tools and, in the process, we’re learning whether they work well enough to justify additional research. Some will work and some won’t.
“We will try to get enough data to allow these products to be registered in both Canada and the U.S.,” he said.
Progress rewarding
Patten is hopeful of knocking off a few more pests in the next 20 years. However, “I am confident that one or two will be there long after I’ve eaten my last cranberry,” he said.
“Nevertheless,” he added, “it is very rewarding to be able to solve a problem that has plagued the industry for decades and caused millions of dollars in crop loss.”
Learn more about projects ongoing at the WSU research unit in Long Beach by visiting http://bit.ly/mtNhfy.