George Lamont's best new idea in apple growing is one he can't sell other growers on. But it has cut his herbicide bill "drastically," he says. He hit on the idea about 10 years ago, after he pushed a probe into soil to test for nutrient content.

"The soil came up looking like beach sand," Lamont says. "There wasn't any organic matter" -- the soul of soil. Now a thick carpet of organic matter covers the soil beneath Lamont's trees on his 500 acres of orchards, which produce about 400,000 bushels of apples each year near Albion, N.Y.

For this and other innovations -- and his proactive work promoting best management practices to other growers -- Lamont has been awarded an "Excellence in IPM Award" from the New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program at Cornell University. IPM develops and demonstrates least-risk methods of dealing with insects, weeds and plant diseases.

Lamont dealt with his sandy soil problem by ending the application of soil sterilant herbicides. He also changed how he applied his fertilizer and took an "if you can't fight 'em, join 'em" approach to managing weeds. His comrade-in-arms: chickweed, a common weed that grows everywhere that crops (and lawns) grow but also helps suppress other weeds.

Lamont also was among the first fruit growers to use an IPM method, developed by Cornell scientists, to help control red mites, which can plague orchards by weakening trees, reducing fruit yields and quality.

A pest management consultant helped Lamont find a different mite, the T. pyri, which puts red mites on the top of its menu. They located the efficient little predator on suckers that had sprouted from a nearby grower's trees.

Lamont cut thousands of the suckers and placed them on branches where red mite populations were high. Within a month or two, he had a self-sustaining control measure in place at little cost.

"George also has helped scientists test new, biologically based insect growth regulators and other 'soft' control methods for leafrollers and other major fruit pests," says Deborah Breth, IPM team leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Lake Ontario Fruit Team.

Insect growth regulators are considered very safe for such nontarget organisms as those predatory T. pyri as well as for birds, fish, frogs, people and other mammals. They mimic a larval insect's own hormones, tricking it into an early molt, which stops it dead in its tracks.

Yet when growers first tried an insect growth regulator and it failed, many blamed the product, recalls James Misiti, president of JM Scouting Service.

"What we didn't know was that our application timing was off," Misiti says. "While most of us cursed the product, George worked with the company that sold it. After two years of trials, they finally learned how to make it work."

Now, Misiti says, "These growth regulators are the standard." Misiti commends Lamont for having the nerve to risk a substantial percentage of his crop to test new techniques.

Lamont, former executive secretary of the New York State Horticultural Society, received his award Feb. 13 at the New York State Fruit and Vegetable Expo in Syracuse, N.Y.