Zero tolerance for worms Tart cherry growers struggle to make
reduced-risk insecticides work. Insecticide trials conducted by
Michigan State University's Nikki Rothwell has found that the
widely used practice of spraying alternate row middles may not
work as effectively when reduced-risk pesticides are used. Photo
courtesy of MSU. Nikki Rothwell, MSU As pressure increases on
growers to eliminate organophosphate insecticides from their
spray programs, Michigan’s tart cherry growers are not yet sure
they can control pests—especially plum curculio. There is zero
tolerance for this beetle’s larvae in processed fruit, and
nothing is more visible than a white worm that floats to the top
of a pack of pitted red cherries. “We’re really nervous about
it,” said Dr. Nikki Rothwell, a Michigan State University
research entomologist and coordinator of the Northwest Michigan
Horticultural Station near Traverse City. “We’re seeing huge
increases in pest populations in orchards where we use the
reduced-risk insecticides.” In