Evaluation of an Abatement Program for Western X-Disease in Sweet Cherry. R. A. VanSteenwyk, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley 94720. B. C. Kirkpatrick, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis 95616, A. H. Purcell and C. F. Fouche, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley 94720, J. A. Grant, Cooperative Extension, University of California, 420 S. Wilson Way, Stockton 95205 and J. K. Uyemoto, USDA-ARS, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis 95616. Plant Dis. 79:1025-1028. Accepted for publication 5 July 1995. Copyright 1995 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-1025.

The components of a western X-disease (WXD) abatement program for sweet cherry in California were evaluated in nine cherry orchards from 1986 through 1990. Components of the program included removal of WXD-infected trees to reduce WXD inoculum in the orchards and post-harvest application of long-residual insecticides to reduce leafhopper populations. A stepwise linear regression of the percentage of new WXD infections against the percentage of WXD-infected trees remaining in the orchards from one year to the next and insecticide residual longevity showed that WXD-infected tree removal was primarily responsible for reduction in new WXD infections and that insecticide residual longevity contributed only a minor amount in suppression of new infections.

Keyword(s): Colladonus montanus, Fieberiella florii