Poor pear sucker control could seriously jeopardise the future of pear production unless growers can find ways of achieving more effective control measures. So predicts Graham Waters, a Hutchinson's top fruit adviser, who says that a number of orchards have suffered the worst damage he has ever seen. Control of the pest has always been difficult in a few orchards ever since the 1970's when sucker first developed resistance to certain insecticides. However, in the last two seasons the sucker problem has spread to a much wider area, especially in areas with a high density of pear orchards. For this reason the pest tends to be worse in Kent, although Graham Waters says that areas of East Anglia have also been badly hit.
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