Orpet Laboratory Website

Welcome. The Orpet Laboratory is located at the Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, WA.

Our team works with insects and people.

Tree fruit orchardists experience a complex balance of economic, environmental, and social forces in their constant challenge of pest management. Our laboratory freely combines entomology with other disciplines to understand and address stakeholder issues holistically.

Pear Insects Lab

Designing, evaluating, and sharing phenology-based integrated pest management guidelines that work on commercial farms.

Earwig Transit Workshop

Connecting earwig sources with destinations for pear and apple pest biocontrol.

Insect Habitat Survey

Evaluating orchard-adjacent flowers as insect habitat, especially for pollinators.

Leafhopper Pheno-Study

Finding where and when X-disease leafhoppers come.

Contact

Please consult the Tree Fruit Research and Center faculty page for current contact information.

Selected Publications

  1. Orpet, RJ, EH Beers, ST DuPont, R Hilton, LA Kalcsits, LB Nottingham. 2023. Evaluation of reflective groundcovers for pest and fruit quality management in commercial pear orchards. Journal of Applied Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jen.13123
  2. Curtiss, RT, A Skoda, S Bossert, and RJ Orpet. First record and long-term establishment of the order Embioptera in Washington State. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 142: 1–7.
  3. Nottingham, LB, RJ Orpet, and EH Beers. 2022. Integrated pest management programs for pear psylla, Cacopsllya pyricola (Förster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), using kaolin clay and reflective plastic mulch. Journal of Economic Entomology 115: 1607–1619.
  4. Orpet, RJ, WR Cooper, EH Beers, and LB Nottingham. Test of plant defense elicitors for arthropod pest suppression and PR-1 gene induction in pear orchards. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 169:1137‒1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.13110
  5. Orpet, RJ, VP Jones, EH Beers, J Reganold, J Goldberger, and DW Crowder. 2020. Perceptions and outcomes of conventional vs. organic apple orchard management. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 289:106723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106723
  6. Orpet, RJ, JR Goldberger, DW Crowder, and VP Jones. 2019. Field evidence and grower perceptions on the roles of an omnivore, European earwig, in apple orchards. Biological Control 132:189‒198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.02.011
  7. Orpet, RJ, DW Crowder, and VP Jones. 2019. Woolly apple aphid generalist predator feeding behavior assessed through video observation in an apple orchard. Journal of Insect Behavior 32:153‒163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-019-09722-z
  8. Orpet, RJ, DW Crowder, and VP Jones. 2019. Biology and management of European earwig in orchards and vineyards. Journal of Integrated Pest Management 10:21. https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmz019
  9. Orpet, RJ, VP Jones, JP Reganold, and DW Crowder. 2019. Effects of restricting movement between root and canopy populations of woolly apple aphid. PLOS ONE 14:e0216424. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216424.