CONTROL OF SPRUCE BUDMOTH, ZEIRAPHERA-CANADENSIS MUT AND FREE IN WHITE SPRUCE PLANTATIONS WITH ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODES, STEINERNEMA SPP

A spruce budmoth population reduction of 82%, as measured by moth emergence, was realized after a foliar spray in which Futura(R), a commercial Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (B.t.) formulation, was added to a suspension of Steinernema carpocapsae (Weiser). The nematode suspension, which took advantage of the wetting and spreading agents in the formulation, was applied to runoff at the rate of 9785 viable infective juvenile nematodes per litre. Mortality was attributed to the nematodes; B.t. was not available to the cryptic larvae. Soil drench treatments were encouraging, and suggested that applications of nematodes to the soil may be feasible.