I'm not a big fan of using pesticides, but red neck cane borers caused me to take more drastic measures. I have used Macho 2.0FL, which is a generic version of imidacloprid, on some of my trailing blackberries to prevent red neck cane borer damage. Without using it, I probably wouldn't be able to grow them. Imidacloprid is widely used on a whole range of fruits and vegetables, so it is very likely you have been eating produce that has been treated with it. With that said, using it requires careful timing to prevent incidental damage to pollinating insects, like honey bees. For blackberries, it is applied post-bloom. I highly suggest reviewing the IPM guidelines (attached). 'Admire Pro' is the brand name used in the IPM Handbook for imidacloprid. Here is a link that might be useful: Midwest Small Fruit Pest Management Handbook

Fauls: Whatever you have, you might want to spray your apple trees with dormant oil a couple of times during the winter months; once early, and again just before bud break. If insects are overwintering on your trees, the oil will suffocate the eggs. Make sure you clean up fallen fruit and leaves around the trees in fall, since some insects can overwinter below the trees as well. It would be nice to know exactly what pest you are dealing with, but even nicer to get rid of them. Oil sprays are a good routine preventive treatment for all pome fruits. It is always best to stop them before they get started. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Tom: Are you sure the neighbor's tree is not infested? Have you actually looked closely at his fruit? Maybe the neighbor sprays or picks up his fruit drops so there are not so many flies hatching out under his tree. There can be some variety differences, but when two trees so close together differ so much in the level of insect damage, there is usually something else in play. The spray you use is very much your own decision, based on what you can find and what is most effective in your area. Local advice would be better than mine. I use Imidan early for two or three sprays to get the apples up to thinning and bagging size, but Permethrin would be an acceptable and very effective substitute in most cases. But since I bag my apples, I am able to stop spraying very early in the season. If you don't do that, you will have to find something you are comfortable using all season long on about a 10 day schedule. Apple maggot is a later infestation than the plum curculio and codling moth I deal with by early sprays, and if you bagged your apples after thinning you might not have to spray at all, since you don't seem to have a problem with the other insects. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I have been helping do some trial work here in Australia the home of LBAM. We have been irradiating moths then testing the moths for mating competitiveness. Also testing the levels of irradiation needed to sterilize the insects. This is all work needed to be done if you in the States decide to set up a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) program. I guess the results will be published by some one soon. I was only helping out but it looks very promising that SIT can be used against LBAM. You would need to eradicate it real soon because I doubt you can contain its spread. If you are worried about using pheromones on environmental grounds you should probably have a think about how much chemical will be needed if you don't knock LBAM out early.