Deterrent effect of artificial light on the codling moth

Abstract does not appear. First page follows.

The results of a codling-moth light experiment conducted during the summer of 1928 showed that the percentage of worminess in apples from trees in an artificially lighted area was less than that of apples from trees in an unlighted area: it was, therefore, concluded that light has a tendency to deter the codling moth in its egg-laying habits.4 When fruit of the same variety was compared at the end of the test, it was found that 21.0 per cent of the apples on check trees outside the test plot were moth attacked, while only 14.5 per cent of the apples inside the test plot were so affected.

Conditions of the Experiment

For the purpose of that experiment, six 500-watt lamps were used during the evening hours from about an hour before sunset to about an hour after sunset, an illumination time of about 2 hours, during the period from May 1 to June 30. The peak of the codling-moth flight occurs from about 20 minutes before sunset to about 20 minutes after, hence the hours chosen for artificial illumination. A block of 15 trees was used.