The vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is a major pest of vineyards. Here, we tested the efficacy of the mating disruption method against the pest when applied during one or two successive years in high and low infestation levels. Following 1 year of treatment, at low initial infestation levels a shutdown of pheromone traps was observed, along with a significant reduction in infested vines. With initially high infestation levels, a gradual reduction in infested vines was observed, with a trap shutdown seen only after the second year of pheromone application. We discuss the implications of the male mating disruption method for this pest in which the wingless females are aggregated with limited movement among vines, offering multiple mating opportunities for the flying male.

Background and Aims Grapevine leafroll disease (GLD) is one of the most widespread viral diseases of grapevine. In the present study, we suggest a methodology that combines real multiyear GLD spatial infection data and simulations of different management strategies to study their impact on GLD spread. Methods and Results We used real multiyear data on spatial infection of GLD to assess the infection risk to vines adjacent to infected vines. Directly adjacent vines were at significantly higher risk for infection in subsequent years than distant vines. Nevertheless, we found no difference in the absolute number of newly infected vines yearly between the directly adjacent and distant vines, indicating that GLD spread occurs in adjacent vines and randomly throughout the vineyard. We used the real multiyear GLD spatial infection data to simulate control strategies: uprooting; uprooting supplemented with insecticide treatment of neighbouring vines; and treatment of neighbouring vines with no uprooting and to study their impact on GLD spread. Uprooting with and without supplemental treatment to neighbouring vines significantly decelerated infection spread over a 7‐year period (from 30 to 8.6%). The combined treatment, however, of infected and neighbouring vines yielded a lower infection level with less uprooting events compared with uprooting alone. Conclusion Despite the risk of GLD spread to distant vines, the significantly higher risk of directly adjacent vines and their known location make them more relevant to management strategies for the control of disease dissemination. Significance of the Study The combination of simulations with real data revealed additional information on GLD spread under different management strategies that deviated from the expected dissemination process.

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