[3] Winemakers in France, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and Italy were the first to use the method to treat vines against the larvae of the moth genus Cochylis.
Consequently, the male population experiences a reduced probability of successfully locating and mating with females, which leads to the eventual cessation of breeding and collapse of the insect infestation.
The effective field longevity of the microencapsulated pheromone formulations ranges from a few days to slightly more than a week, depending on climatic conditions, capsule size and chemical properties[1].
[13] These novel SPLAT pheromone mating disruption formulations can provide effective season long suppression effect (e.g., depending on the target pest a single application of SPLAT controls the target pest for a complete reproductive cycle,[14] or for the entire season[10][15]) and can be manually or mechanically applied.
In November 2007, a controversial aerial approach was used to spray microencapsulated LBAM pheromone in urban and rural areas of the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey California to combat the invasive light brown apple moth.
The government campaign using areawide aerial microencapsulated pheromone applications failed to show any sign of mating disruption on the light brown apple moth populations in the treated area.
It was found that the first aerial campaign was performed using an incomplete (the wrong) pheromone blend of the light brown apple moth (the wrong blend decreased tremendously the likelihood of success of the mating disruption program), and the LBAM microencapsulated formulation was untested, and finally, microencapsule formulations are notoriously known for their short field life, weak and erratic performance.
This set of LBAM mating disruption aerial applications done by the government has created tremendous dissent of the public in general as well as of several sectors of the scientific community.
A single mating disruption formulation application promotes season-long suppression of spongy moth in the treated areas.
The consortium of Federal and State participants have been able to do the following: • decrease the new territory invaded by the spongy moth each year from 15,600 square miles (40,000 km2) to 6,000 square miles (16,000 km2); • protect forests, forest–based industries, urban and rural parks, and private property; and • avoid at least $22 million per year in damage and management costs.
It seems that the tremendous success of the Slow the Spread program is related to extremely well planned campaigns, which involves communication, transparency and clarity of objectives: in advance to an application STS holds meetings that include the area population in general, concerned citizens, public officials, scientists and technical personnel to discuss strategies of management of spongy moths in the areas of concern.