Mating Disruption Explained
Contents
Watch Cody Hays and Andrea Holeman explain mating disruption. Suterra dives into their pest management solution of mating disruption during an interview with the news station, Central Valley Today in late 2022.
What is mating disruption and how does it work?
Mating disruption is a technology that modifies pest behavior. Suterra’s CheckMate® and Puffer® products use a replica of a female insect pheromone that is dispersed through the air to confuse the male when finding a mate.
Mating disruption is an effective and sustainable way to control pest populations, as it targets the reproductive cycle of pests rather than relying on chemicals that can be harmful to other species. This method is often used to control agricultural pests such as navel orangeworm, vine mealy bug, California red scale, and diamondback moth.
How does the pheromone active ingredient disperse?
We have products available in most crops; almonds, pistachios, stone fruit, vegetables, cole crops, citrus, and grapes. In the United States, we offer three major platforms that the AI pheromone replica can be distributed through; Puffer, Dispenser, and Flowable. If a pheromone works for that pest we will investigate a product and a way of delivering that pheromone that'll work.
25 years of Puffer® Technology
25 years ago we invented aerosol mating disruption with our aerosol Puffer®. The Puffer® is just a head with an on-off switch. You turn on the switch, you take the hook and you place it in the top portion of the canopy, in the tree. Set it and forget it. Read more about Suterra's 25 years of Puffer® Technology.
