Pests
Nature maintains a delicate yet robust system for keeping pests in check and allowing life to flourish. This cycle, when
disturbed, leads to problems such as overpopulation of a particular pest.
The best way to promote the health of a species is to provide a consistent food source. When a pest is
eliminated completely through the use of pesticide, the effect is to eliminate the food source
of any natural predator that may be keeping the pest in check.
In virtually all cases of complete elimination of a pest, the pest has returned in unprecedented numbers,
unchecked by anything in its path except...you guessed it...even more pesticides. In some cases, a small number of the target pests
such as the avocado thrips survive the effects of the pesticide, and breed a whole crop of resistant mutant pests specially
adapted to survive in the presence of that pesticide.
Slowly, growers are learning of the long-term financial benefit of preserving an ecosystem of pest
and predator. Whether the reasons are legal, financial, or moral, the use of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is
improving the state of affairs. Tougher laws in the United States are making pesticides such as Methyl Bromide
completely illegal, forcing growers to take a more active part in finding an acceptible strategy to reduce
the financial losses caused by pest damage.
Our strategy is to maintain an environment free of poison that promotes a healthy system, sustainable
over the long term.
Here is a list of the pests that we deal with, and full disclosure on how we deal with them.
Pocket Gopher
Unfotunately, the property at DavesAvocados.com is overrun by gophers. We rejoice when, upon occasion, a gopher snake
or a king snake happens by as these are the main predator of the gopher. Our resident owl is known to take a few
out upon occasion as well. Most commercial operations
place cyanide or other poisons on a MONTLY BASIS into the ground in around the trees that
are producing the food that you eat. We believe that the poison has many harmful effects:
1) ground water seepage contaminates drinking water and water used on other crops
2) predators of the gopher eat the poisoned carcass, and themselves are killed
3) the roots of the products sold for consumption can absorb the poisons
4) nameless ranch hands are exposed to various poisons and products which have long-term health consequences
The pocket gopher can singlehandedly wipe out a tree in one night by chewing on the sensitive feeder roots of the tree or
by "girdling" the tree...chewing the bark from the outside of the trunk.
Imagine putting hundreds of hours into a project over and eight or ten year span, and having an animal come by and destroy
it in a night or two for a meal. Gopher runs also promote the spread of fungal tree diseases such as the dreaded avocado root
rot through the quick and easy passage of water from one area in the grove to another. On our property, we had a twelve foot sinkhole that appeared
after a rain that could have flipped our ATV on its belly.
To control gophers on our property, we use a trap. After the gopher is killed, it is left nearby to feed the local bobcat and coyote population.
We feel that trapping is a necessary but undesirable alternative to the poisons used by virtually all of our competetors. To give you
an idea of the scope of the problem, from
12/25/2005 through 8/15/2006 we recorded over 110 gopher kills. Left unchecked, this population would completely eliminate our ability
to grow trees on our property, and eliminate our ability to live on a home resting on stable ground in the hills of our property.
AvocadoThrips
This tiny pest pierces the avocado fruit, causing scarring of the skin as the fruit matures. This leads to a financial
loss of 50% to 100% of the crop. This pest first appeared in California in 1996 at Port Hueneme, and by the next year
had covered most of the California orchards. A variation of the pest is native to Mexico, where it causes no
significant financial loss. Its preferred food is vegitation, and only moves to the fruit if no suitable vegitation
exists.
We have adopted a multi-faceted strategy for dealing with this pest:
1) a canopy management strategy of trimming in January, which promotes growth of young leaves(more desirable food source) during the time that the fruit is most susceptable.
2) placement of course tree trimmings at the base of the tree, which has been proven to reduce their numbers by up to 50%
3) planting and creation of a market for varieties less susceptable to this pest than the Hass variety
In addition, we have a robotic pest control system in development. Thrips are our first target. This system
will be extensible to other pests on other crops. Our vision is to change the face of agriculture and the agri-chemical
environment required to fill the current food needs of the nations. This vision is really the genesis of the first
planting of trees on our property, though the grove has come to mean so much more than that.
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