POSSIBILITY AND PROBLEMS OF ORGANIC APPLE GROWING IN HUNGARY

In Hungary, growers of vegetables and fruit are increasingly intereste d in organic production methods. Because of the lack of a home market, organic production is mainly oriented towards the export market. A st udy of organic apple production methods was begun in 1993. Unfortunate ly, the main apple varieties grown in Hungary are susceptible to disea ses: on 'Starking', scab and on 'Jonathan', mildew cause problems. Of the insect pests, apple blossom weevil (Anthonomus pomorum L.), codlin g moth (Cydia pomonella L.), aphids (Dysaphis devecta Walk., D, planta ginea Pass., Aphis pomi De Geer), leaf miners (Phyllonorycter corylifo liella Haw., Leucoptera malifoliella Costa), leaf rollers (Adoxophyes orana F.v.R., Pandemis heparana Den. et Schiff.) and San Jose scale (Q uadraspidiotus perniciosus Comst.) are the most significant. Besides a pplying products such as copper and sulphur preparations and Bacillus thuringiensis insecticides, various physical and mechanical methods we re used, including trapping to keep pest populations below the economi c threshold. Parasitoids of both leaf miners and woolly aphid, as well as predacious mites, became numerous and worked efficiently in the su ppression of their hosts. On the 'Jonathan' and 'Idared' varieties, va rious phytotechnical methods were successful in decreasing the number of aphid colonies by 15-30% and the rate of fruit infestation caused b y codling moth by 70%.