It’s apple harvest time in north Georgia.

In Gilmer County, the heart of Georgia’s apple area, growers
got help from local
students to make this a good, profitable harvest.

"We were looking for insects that damage apples,"
said Ronnie Gheesling,
director of the University of Georgia Extension Service’s Gilmer
County office.

"We had a flair-up of crop-damaging moths in the past
few years," he said.
"We wanted to teach growers how to use traps as indicators
and not just spray by
guessing."

The major pests were coddling moths, oriental fruit moths,
tufted apple bud moths,
variegated leaf-roller moths and red-banded leaf-roller moths.
The chemicals alone to
control these orchard pests can cost a grower up to $20,000 a
year.

"We’re checking timing to see how the insects go through
their life cycles in the
orchard," Gheesling said. "But it changes from year to
year."

To help with the project, Gheesling and Dan Horton, an
extension entomologist,
recruited local students and high school biology teacher Lou Ann
Teague.

The students monitor the moths with sticky baited traps
treated with a pheromone (a
mating-scent chemical) that attracts the moths. Each week the
students check the traps.
Finding more than 10 moths per trap indicates a problem in the
orchard.

When moth numbers peak, the grower has 10 to 14 days to spray
and kill the larvae.

"As part of the science project, the students began this
study of moths in a local
orchard," Gheesling said. "They took care of that
orchard. They set traps and
read them each week. Then they passed on the information to
us."

The growers have loosely monitored their orchards for years.
But the students’ project
gives them a system with consistency.

"The group’s work was really exceptional," he said.
"It made science
real and meaningful for the students while helping growers
improve their insect
management."

The readings helped give the apple growers a measurable idea
of when it’s best to spray
for the moths, rather than have them depend on educated guesses.
That information helps
save time and money.

"I think this project may lead some of these students to

do some orchard scouting down the road," Gheesling
said.

The Georgia apple harvest lasts from mid-August to early
November.

"This is a real good year for Georgia apples,"
Gheesling said. "But
we’re light on golden delicious."

Georgia apples are sold mainly as fresh fruit. The state’s
crop averages 22 million
pounds each year, with a value of more than $3 million.