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Grape berry moths
Grape berry moths are caterpillars or larvae of two small butterflies: Cochylis (Clysia ambiguella) and Eudemis (Lobesia botrana). Eudemis is the most common in Portugal. Eudemis hibernates in the form of a chrysalis inside a silky cocoon woven under the vines’ rhytidome, in fallen leaves or in prop cracks. The first adults appear in spring (in the beginning of the flight there are more males, but females are dominant at the end). After mating (a twilight activity) egg-laying takes place, usually on flower buds. A female can lay between 50 and 80 eggs in six days, dying afterwards. The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which pierce and gnaw the berries' surface causing wounds that favour the development of grey mould. The damages caused by the grape berry moth are not very serious in the first generation, unless the attack is too intense and the destruction of flower buds very high. On the other hand, in the second and third generations the caterpillars cause a decrease in production and favour the development of several types of mould, mainly grey mould, which can cause significant losses.
Flower buds:
- Nests and glomeruli resulting from the union of flower buds that can have holes in them. - Presence of caterpillars inside the flower buds.
Berries:
- Presence of eggs and/or holes in the berries
Biological control:
- use of Bacillus thuringiensis
Biotechnical control:
- Use of phytopharmaceutical products: IGI (insect growth inhibitors, which prevent the formation of chitin, a constituent of the insect’s exoskeleton that is not found in mammals) and IGR (mimetic compounds of the hormones intervening in moulting, such as the juvenile hormone and the moulting or ecdysone hormone)
- Use of the sexual confusion technique (distribution of diffusers of (E7, Z9)-dodec-7-en-9-yn-1-ol acetate, a pheromone mimetic substance (females produce pheromone to attract the males)
Active substance:
- azadiractina (MPB) |
Commercial name
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Align |
Type
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RCI – inhibits ecdysone |
Mode of action
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Contact, ingestion and fumigation |
Action on |
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Larvae, pupae, adults |
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- fenoxicarbe
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Commercial name
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Insegar 25 W |
Type
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RCI –juvenile hormone mimetic |
Mode of Action
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Ingestion and contact |
Action on |
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Egg hatching and formation of the pupa |
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- flufenoxurão
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Commercial name
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Cascade |
Type
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ICI – chitin synthesis inhibitor |
Mode of Action
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Ingestion and contact |
Action on |
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Larvae and eggs |
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- lufenurão
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Commercial name
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Match |
Type
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ICI –inhibits chitin synthesis |
Mode of Action
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Ingestion and contact |
Action on |
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Larvae and eggs |
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- tebufenozida
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Commercial name
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Mimic |
Type
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RCI – ecdysone mimetic |
Mode of Action
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Ingestion |
Action on |
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Larvae |
Chemical control:
- Active substance phosalone (commercial name: Zolone), which acts by contact and ingestion. Its use is only recommended when Bacillus thuringiensis or IGR don’t produce any effects.
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