| Abstract: | In 3 year field experiments on the development of more economical methods for pest and disease control on intensively planted dessert apple trees, low dose applications of one-tenth of the normal quantities of pesticide in one-hundredth, one-tenth and one-fifth of the normal volumes were compared with conventional high volume spraying at 2250 litres/ha. An experimental tractor-mounted mist blower, a motorised knapsack mist blower and a fan-assisted disc sprayer were each used to apply the pesticides in 225, 45 and 22.5 litres of water/ha. Control of the apple-grass aphid, Rhopalosiphum insertum, obtained by low dose spraying of demeton-S-methyl (8 g a.i./ha) combined with azinphos-methyl (37 g a.i./ha) in 225 and 22.5 litres/ha in 1971 and of fenitrothion (70 g a.i./ha) in 225, 45 and 22.5 litres/ha in 1972 and 1973 was almost equal to that obtained by the conventional high volume method. Low dose applications of benomyl fungicide programmes gave poor control of apple scab, Venturia inaequalis in 1971 when the disease incidence on the fruit was very high at 73%, but in 1972 and 1973, when it was moderately high at 42–45%, control was almost equal to that given by the conventional high volume method. Under these conditions all the low dose methods gave better control with benomyl than with dodine/captan programmes. |
