The hunt for the light brown apple moth
June 16, 2009 by Katey Bacigalupi
Filed under In the vineyard
Similar to Sean Connery’s character in the Hunt for Red October where he plays a captain on the hunt for a superior Soviet nuclear submarine, I too am on the hunt for dangerous pest; the light brown apple moth (LBAM). 
For those not familiar with the LBAM it is an exotic pest native to Australia. These moths pose a serious threat to our environments ecology, beauty and agricultural productivity- not just in California but nationwide. What makes protection against these moths so difficult is that they have few natural enemies in the U.S. and re-produce at a rapid pace. LBAMS feed on grapevines at all stages of their life cycle; overwintering larvae may feed on buds causing injured buds to fail in further development. During bloom, larvae may feed on flower clusters and after verasion feeding damage on the berries may allow rot organisms to infect fruit. Pheromone traps are the most efficient and reliable methods for trapping male adults but monitoring agricultural areas on a regular basis can help prevent their spread.
I’ve taken on the task to do LBAM monitoring at our three vineyard locations. Forms can be downloaded from the IPM website which provides you with everything from pest management guidelines to weekly monitoring sheets. Now that the vineyards are into their berry set stage it’s important to examine the leaves and clusters for the webbed nests constructed by the larvae. The website suggests monitoring several blocks in each vineyard on a weekly basis. If you suspect the presence of the LBAM it is important to notify your State department of agriculture or APHIS. You can find a listing of those contacts here. Let’s all do our part to protect our vineyards and our country’s agriculture!
Most all insects can do some damage as they eat fruit or leaves or roots, etc.
LBAM doing more damage than any other moth of its family already living here is total speculation without any actual proof for such a hypothesis. But that inaccurate information keeps spreading because some high-ups (not the scientists) in the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the USDA want a whole bunch of $$$$ from our taxpayer emergency fund. How much - roughly $2.5 Billion at $100 million per year over 25 years, the average length of their typical eradication programs.
1. There is NO proof or even a basis for claiming that LBAM is a serious threat in California, let alone the U.S.
2. There are so many natural enemies of LBAM in the US: birds, beetles, earwigs, spiders, bats and the so-many-others that already eat LBAM’s moth cousins and brothers that have been living here forever, well controlled by these same predators.
3. LBAM has not been a serious pest anywhere on the globe throughout recorded history, but since it is realized it is in California, the CDFA and USDA have used this not-well-known- moth in California to scare the people and implement their “Saving-us” policy that happens to cost billions and coincidentally happens to give the contracts to their insider political friends.
4. Not a single grape grower for wine production has had any documented damage from LBAM, but the policies of CDFA driven by USDA, have been and currently are an unnecessary catastrophe for growers. The motivation behind this is $$$ and the method is: pick a few bits of information about a moth that people know little about, add a good amount of dishonesty to piece together a scary scenario, and then come to the rescue with solutions that bring the $$$$ to those who created the lies.
Thank you for this informative article. There is a lot of energized conversation around the topic of LBAM. Our website (www.hungrypests.com) features information about the LBAM and other invasive pests in California. Let us know what you think!
Thanks for all the comments! This article was really meant to communicate what we are currently doing in the vineyards. The LBAM monitoring is purely a prevention measure that we are taking to make sure our vineyards remain healthy and productive.