ABSTRACT
As in most of Europe’s commercial fruit growing regions, the frequency of spraying with chemical insecticides, fungicides and acaricides increased enormously in the fifties and sixties in the orchards of the Southern Tyrol, There are several reasons for this:
the growing range of new and effective chemicals and the intensive publicity of manufacturers and distributors;
developments in technical equipment (sprayers, etc) and tractors so that less and less time and effort is involved in à round of spraying;
more exacting consumer requirements as regards the cosmetic quality of fruit;
the growing resistance of various pests – as natural predators were pushed further aid further back, more and more chemical insecticides and acaricides had to be used,
