In a recent study, Charlotte Howard and her colleagues report that floral strips can be a practical and effective way to encourage natural pest control in commercial apple orchards. Floral margins can deliver a measurable increase in yield of undamaged fruit. We found that by using flower margins in conventional orchards, farmers were able to significantly reduce damage by a problematic global pest: the rosy … Continue reading Powerful flowers
Following the recently published article, Effectiveness of vole control by owls in apple orchards, Chie Murano highlights the vital role predators such as Ural owls play in protecting farmers’ produce from pests. Voles are one of the world’s major pests. For the past few decades, Japanese farmers, especially apple producers have suffered from escalating levels of apple tree damage caused by the Japanese field … Continue reading The orchard guardian: pest vole control by owls
The Applied Ecologist 