The Uses of Parathion in British Columbia Orchards

1950 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. V. G. Morgan ◽  
R. S. Downing

In British Columbia parathion was first officially recommended to the fruit grower in 1949 for the control of orchard insects and mites, particularly the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerst.; the European red mite, Metatetranychus ulmi (Koch)=[Paratetranychus pilosus (C. & F.)]; and the Pacific mite, Tetranychus pacificus McG. Similar recommendations were made simultaneously in other Canadian fruit-growing areas. In British Columbia the Okanagan Spray Committee advised the use of only one formulation and one concentration: 15 per cent wettable powder at 0.75 pounds per 100 imperial gallons. At the start of the season most growers were rather reluctant to use parathion, not necessarily because it was new but because the poisonous nature of the material had been so thoroughly impressed upon them. However, as the season progressed and orchard pests became generally more troublesome, their attitude changed, so that by mid-season the use of parathion was common. It is estimated that at least 75 per cent of Okanagan Valley fruit growers used this insecticide at one time or another during the season. They bought from 40 to 50 tons of 15 per cent parathion wettable powder in 1949.

1958 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. V. G. Morgan ◽  
N. H. Anderson

The existence of strains of mites resistant to parathion has been well established (Garman, 1950; Lienk, Dean, & Chapman, 1952; Newcomer & Dean, 1952; Smith & Fulton, 1951). Resistant strains of the European red mite, Metatetranychus ulmi (Koch), first occurred in orchards of the Pacific northwest in 1950 (Newcomer, 1951; O'Neill & Hantsbarger, 1951), approximately three years after parathion was first used as an acaricide. Two other species of orchard mites, the Pacific mite, Tetranychus pacificus McG., and T. mcdanieli McG., were subsequently reported to have developed parathion-resistant strains in the same area (Newcomer & Dean, 1953). Though parathion is lethal to most predacious mites and insects, Huffaker and Kennett (1953) found a difference in tolerance between species of Typhlodromus in the field and in the laboratory: T. reticulatus Oudms. was very susceptible to parathion whereas T. occidentalis Nesbitt was not appreciably affected by it.


1963 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. K. Watson ◽  
W. H. A. Wilde

AbstractDuring 1961 and 1962 observations were made on the activities of predators of the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Förster, in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Attacking the psylla together, the anthocorid bug, Anthocoris melanocerus Reuter, and the green lacewing, Chrysopa oculata Say, gave more effective suppression than either predator alone. DDT and Diazinon drastically reduced numbers of these predators b commercial plantings. In non-sprayed, isolated orchards, trace numbers of these predators maintained effective control of pear psylla populations.


1963 ◽  
Vol 95 (9) ◽  
pp. 1005-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. A. Wilde

Pear and quince are primary hosts of the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster (Smith, 1941; Wilde, 1962), but the scarcity of quince in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia eliminates it as an important host in that area.In 1962 suspicious chlorotic streaking, symptomatic of feeding by sucking insects, was seen on downy chess grass, Bromus tectorum L., growing in two pear orchards heavily infested with pear psylla. As a result, greenhouse and field trials were conducted to ascertain if pear psylla, on occasion, feeds on this grass and causes phytotoxic symptoms. Cages, enclosing small, potted Anjou pear trees and clumps of downy chess grass growing around the base of these trees, were used in the greenhouse for confining 30 adult pear psyllids. An equal number of potted trees and clumps of grass were maintained under the same greenhouse conditions but without adult psyllids. Observations on feeding and phytotoxic symptoms produced in downy chess grass by the pear psylla were made between July 12 and October 19.


1962 ◽  
Vol 94 (8) ◽  
pp. 845-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. A. Wilde

Of the fruits grown in the Kootenay Valley of British Columbia, pears are third in importance; in the more arid Okanagan Valley 300 miles to the wrest they are second. During 1959 the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster, caused severe losses for fruit growers in the Okanagan Valley. The damage was much greater than had occurred during the previous 17 years. It became clear that the insect was a major economic pest, and that it was not being adequately controlled by the recommended insecticides. Obviously, more information was needed on the biological aspects of the situation. The roie of climatic conditions was particularly in question. In 1960 a start was made on a biological study of the pear psylla at Creston in the Kootenay Valley. This paper deals with observations thnf were made there.


1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 953-961 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. A. Wilde ◽  
T. K. Watson

In the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster, develops only on pear. It overwinters in a variety of protected situations in or near pear trees, e.g., under bark scales, in ground crevices, occasionally under the bark of apple tree interplants in pear orchards, and even in such unlikely quarters as the nests of hornets. Four summer generations and an over-wintering generation occurred in 1961 and 1962. Development of the psyllid from egg to adult required 6 to 7 weeks in the cool weather of spring but only 4 to 5 weeks in midsummer. Heavy rains readily remove nymphs from leaves and twigs but cannot dislodge the firmly attached eggs. Adults have been noted clinging to leaves and twigs in winds of up to 55 miles per hour. Biological control of the pear psylla is affected mainly by two predators, the anthocorid bug, Anthocorus melanocerus Reuter, and the neuropteran, Chrysopa oculatus Say. Dormant oil sprays are detrimental to the anthocorid. There was a major migratory flight of the pear psylla in August and September and two minor migratory flights in late March and mid-June. Aitborne psyllids decreased in numbers with elevation.


1957 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Gregson

Tick paralysis continues to be one of the most baffling and fascinating tickborne diseases in Canada. It was first reported in this country by Todd in 1912. Since then about 250 human cases, including 28 deaths, have been recorded from British Columbia. Outbreaks in cattle have affected up to 400 animals at a time, with losses in a herd as high as 65 head. Although the disease is most common in the Pacific northwest, where it is caused by the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, it has lately been reported as far south as Florida and has been produced by Dermacentor variabilis Say, Amblyomma maculatum Koch, and A. americanum (L.) (Gregson, 1953). The symptoms include a gradual ascending symmetrical flaccid paralysis. Apparently only man, sheep, cattle, dogs, and buffalo (one known instance) are susceptible, but even these may not necessarily be paralysed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 152 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-431
Author(s):  
Susanna Acheampong ◽  
Etienne Lord ◽  
D. Thomas Lowery

AbstractSpotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), has become a serious pest of soft fruit in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada since its detection in 2009. The study was conducted to determine the distribution of D. suzukii and damage levels in grapes. Apple cider vinegar-baited traps placed in table and wine grape (Vitis vinifera Linnaeus; Vitaceae) vineyards during 2011–2013 demonstrated that D. suzukii was numerous in all sites, with earliest emergence and highest numbers recorded in 2013. Drosophila suzukii were reared from intact and damaged table grapes and damaged wine grapes collected from the field, but not from intact wine grapes. Drosophila suzukii were reared in low numbers in 2011 from intact fruit of 11 wine grape cultivars exposed artificially in the laboratory. Susceptibility of intact wine grapes under laboratory conditions in 2011 when sour rot was widespread might relate in part to undetected infections of berries due to weather conditions. Identification of Drosophila Fallén species revealed that D. suzukii comprised a small portion of the total. Our results demonstrate that healthy wine grapes in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia are largely undamaged by D. suzukii, while certain table grape cultivars should be protected from attack.


2006 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
George W. Douglas ◽  
Jenifer L. Penny ◽  
Ksenia Barton

In Canada, Dwarf Woolly-heads, Psilocarphus brevissimus var. brevissimus, is restricted to the Similkameen River valley, south of Princeton in southwestern British Columbia and the extreme southeast and southwest corners of Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively. This paper deals with the three British Columbia populations which represent the northwestern limit of the species which ranges from south-central British Columbia, southward in the western United States to Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, California and Baja California, Mexico. In British Columbia, P. brevissimus is associated with calcareous vernal pools and ephemeral pond edges in large forest openings. This habitat is rare in the area the few existing populations could easily be extirpated or degraded through slight changes in groundwater levels, coalbed methane gas drilling, housing development or recreational vehicles.


2000 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 117-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jacoby

I cannot provide a definitive answer to those of us pondering what the best alternative to capitalism is, but after attending the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association (PNLHA) Conference in Westminster, British Columbia, over the weekend of May 28–30, 1999, I can tell you that this is certainly a preferable alternative to standard academic conferences. As usual, the PNLHA was able to produce a cadre of historians (from the trades as well as academia), active unionists, and old-timers whose memories are as tapable as a keg of beer. Although the association designates labor history as its subject, newly elected President Ross Rieder likes to say, “History ends the moment before now.”


1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian F. Atwater ◽  
Alan R. Nelson ◽  
John J. Clague ◽  
Gary A. Carver ◽  
David K. Yamaguchi ◽  
...  

Earthquakes in the past few thousand years have left signs of land-level change, tsunamis, and shaking along the Pacific coast at the Cascadia subduction zone. Sudden lowering of land accounts for many of the buried marsh and forest soils at estuaries between southern British Columbia and northern California. Sand layers on some of these soils imply that tsunamis were triggered by some of the events that lowered the land. Liquefaction features show that inland shaking accompanied sudden coastal subsidence at the Washington-Oregon border about 300 years ago. The combined evidence for subsidence, tsunamis, and shaking shows that earthquakes of magnitude 8 or larger have occurred on the boundary between the overriding North America plate and the downgoing Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates. Intervals between the earthquakes are poorly known because of uncertainties about the number and ages of the earthquakes. Current estimates for individual intervals at specific coastal sites range from a few centuries to about one thousand years.


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