Advancing NOW Control in Tree Nuts: A New Approach to Navel Orangeworm Management with GroPro Technologies
Navel Orangeworm (NOW) remains the single most economically important insect pest affecting almonds, pistachios, and walnuts throughout the western United States. Each year, growers invest significant resources into sanitation programs, mating disruption technologies, insecticide applications, and monitoring systems to protect crop quality and reduce damage. Despite these efforts, NOW continues to challenge the industry due to its multiple generations, rapid population growth, resistance concerns, and ability to exploit even small gaps in management programs. As regulatory pressures increase and growers seek alternatives that align with sustainability goals, the industry continues to search for solutions that deliver meaningful performance without sacrificing efficacy.
For decades, biological and natural insecticides have often been viewed as supplemental tools rather than primary control options. While many products offered attractive environmental profiles, few delivered the level of performance necessary to compete directly with conventional insecticide programs under commercial orchard conditions. GroPro set out to challenge that perception through the development of Wrath® and Wrath MAX®, advanced botanical insecticide technologies designed to provide conventional-level control using naturally derived active ingredients.
At the center of both technologies is highly concentrated geraniol chemistry, delivered through advanced formulation systems specifically engineered to improve coverage, stability, deposition, and biological performance. Unlike many traditional botanical insecticides that suffer from rapid degradation, volatility, or inconsistent field performance, Wrath and Wrath MAX® were developed to maximize the effectiveness of natural chemistry under real-world production conditions. The result is a new generation of biological insecticides capable of delivering the performance growers expect while maintaining the environmental and residue advantages associated with naturally derived products.
Navel Orangeworm management requires more than simple knockdown activity. Successful programs must reduce adult populations, suppress egg laying, interfere with pest establishment, and minimize larval development throughout multiple generations. Wrath and Wrath MAX® address these challenges through multiple biological mechanisms. The technology affects feeding behavior, disrupts host-finding activity, suppresses oviposition, creates repellency effects, and provides direct contact activity against susceptible life stages. Rather than relying on a single physiological target, the active compounds influence multiple biological systems simultaneously, creating a broader and more comprehensive approach to pest management.
This multi-target activity provides an important advantage in modern resistance management programs. As resistance pressure continues to increase across multiple conventional insecticide classes, growers are increasingly looking for new tools that operate differently from traditional chemistries. Wrath and Wrath MAX® provide an alternative mode of action that can be integrated into existing programs while helping preserve the effectiveness of conventional products for future use.
Field evaluations conducted under commercial orchard conditions have demonstrated that Wrath and Wrath MAX® are capable of delivering levels of suppression typically associated with conventional insecticide programs. Independent trials conducted with Victory Crop Consultants, along with evaluations involving USDA researchers, have shown strong activity against Navel Orangeworm populations in both dormant and in-season management programs. These results have continued to reinforce a simple but important conclusion: natural products no longer need to be viewed as lower-performance alternatives.
One of the most promising aspects of the technology is its flexibility within Integrated Pest Management programs. Wrath and Wrath MAX® can be incorporated alongside mating disruption, sanitation programs, beneficial insect conservation strategies, and conventional insecticide rotations. This allows growers to build more resilient pest management programs while reducing reliance on a limited number of synthetic modes of action. As market demands increasingly favor sustainable production practices and reduced residue profiles, this flexibility becomes even more valuable.
The advantages extend beyond pest control alone. Growers today face increasing scrutiny regarding environmental stewardship, worker safety, pollinator protection, and residue management. Wrath and Wrath MAX® were developed with these considerations in mind, providing a solution that supports both production and sustainability objectives. By combining naturally derived active ingredients with advanced formulation science, GroPro has created technologies that align with the future direction of agriculture while maintaining the level of efficacy required for commercial success.
Perhaps the most important shift represented by Wrath and Wrath MAX® is the change in expectations surrounding biological crop protection. Historically, growers often accepted reduced performance in exchange for environmental benefits when utilizing natural products. Today, that tradeoff is becoming unnecessary. Advances in formulation technology, active ingredient optimization, and delivery systems have created opportunities for biological products to compete directly with conventional chemistries in terms of performance, consistency, and economic value.
For tree nut growers facing increasing Navel Orangeworm pressure, the message is straightforward: effective pest management no longer requires choosing between performance and sustainability. Wrath and Wrath MAX® demonstrate that naturally derived technologies can deliver conventional-level control while supporting modern agricultural goals related to resistance management, environmental stewardship, and long-term orchard sustainability.
As the tree nut industry continues to evolve, growers will increasingly require solutions that provide both efficacy and flexibility. Through ongoing research, commercial field validation, and collaboration with industry partners, GroPro continues to advance technologies designed to meet these needs. Wrath and Wrath MAX® represent more than simply another insecticide option—they represent a new generation of biological crop protection capable of delivering the performance demanded by modern agriculture.
The future of Navel Orangeworm management will belong to technologies that combine effectiveness, sustainability, and adaptability. Wrath and Wrath MAX® are helping lead that transition, proving that natural products can perform at conventional standards while helping growers protect yield, preserve quality, and strengthen the long-term profitability of their orchards.