A call from a local farmer late last week indicated an NJ DEP inspector had stopped by to ‘survey’ water use and had asked to inspect his irrigation records. The call was to say, “Thank you!” for having given him earlier in the year an irrigation pump log sheet to use. He had made a couple of copies and given them to his irrigation manager who has been recording the hours pumped every day. The inspector was happy to see that. The farmer was happier. [Read more…]
Fruit Crops Edition
Seasonal updates on diseases, insects, weeds impacting tree fruit and small fruit (blueberry, cranberry, and wine grape). Fruit Pest Alerts are also available via this category feed.
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Fruit IPM for September 8, 2017
Borers, Rots, Codling Moth and Leafhoppers
Peach:
Lesser Peachtree Borer and Peachtree Borer: With the few fruit left on the trees in northern counties, there is not much going on except for the borer application that still needs to be applied. [Read more…]
Fruit IPM for August 16, 2017
Peach:
Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), Crop Diversity, Alternate Hosts, Wild Grape, Tall Trees and ‘Ready to Eat Fruit, Table-Ripe’ Fruit: Some farms, particularly in northern counties have diverse crops where stone fruit, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries (all SWD hosts) are grown on the same farm and often next to or close to each other. These same farms may be surrounded by woodlands that include wild chokecherry, wild grape, maturing pokeweed and other alternate hosts for SWD. As the season progresses, be aware that SWD populations go in only one direction – UP! The later the season, then the higher the population, and the greater the pest pressure. This means that the likelihood of infestation is increased, while control is made more difficult if sprays are skipped.
Fruit IPM for August 2, 2017
Peach:
Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): The third flight is on the way down in southern counties, and northern counties. Populations are low in peaches, but higher in apples.
Delayed Harvest and Extended Storage of ‘Gloria’ Peaches.
‘Gloria’ is a large, yellow-fleshed, freestone, non-melting peach that ripens around mid-August. This late blooming variety, developed by Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station is unique because of its very attractive color, low acidity, distinctive flavor, and very firm flesh. Previously we saw that letting ‘Gloria’ hang longer lets fruit get sweeter and larger. Firm flesh allows for relatively longer hang time on the tree after fruit has reached commercial maturity, providing greater flexibility in harvest scheduling and shipping to growers as well as buyers. We have estimated how long it is safe to let ‘Gloria’ fruit remain on the tree and in cold storage without affecting fruit quality. Studies in two orchards in Southern NJ indicated that; [Read more…]
Grape Root Borer – Do I Need to Treat?
Dean Polk, Statewide Fruit IPM Agent and Dr. Anne Nielsen, Extension Specialist in Fruit Entomology
A number of growers have recently asked about treatments for grape root borer. Grape root borer (Vitacea polistiformis Harris) is a comparatively large clearwing moth. The adults can resemble Polistes wasps, and can often be confused with these insects, especially since it is often easier to see a wasp in a vineyard than an adult grape root borer. See the images that compare the 2 insects below in Figure 1.
One important difference is that grape root borer (GRB) larvae feed inside grape roots, while wasp larvae do not. Although the grape borer is more of a southern pest, it is present in New Jersey and can be a pest that does significant damage. Adult females lay eggs on the vine surface and on weeds near the crown. Shortly after hatching the larvae enter the crown and central root system, boring into the roots where they can last for 2 years. When the larvae mature, they exit the wood and pupate close to the soil surface where they emerge from early July through August. GRB is not considered an economic pest until about 5% of the vines are infested. This is determined by examining the bases of numerous vines at weekly intervals for signs of adult emergence, or pupal cases (exuvia), throughout the summer, see Figure 2. Pheromone traps can also be used to measure adult emergence, but since they attract moths from both the surrounding woods and vineyards, they are practically useless to tell us what is going on in any specific vineyard. Counting pupal cases is labor intensive, but does tell us if the vineyard is or is not truly infested.
During 2015 -’16 we monitored 2 plantings at each of 9 vineyards. During that time we found 3 vineyards that had populations of GRB that merited treatment, or were above the 5% infestation level. While infestation levels can change over time, this does tell us a few things about GRB in NJ. First, about 33% of the vineyards we sampled had economic populations of GRB. Therefore growers need to determine if they indeed have GRB populations that merit treatment prior to actually doing a GRB treatment. Secondly most GRB adults emerged from the soil a little later than we first thought. Counting the pupal cases over time, we can get an emergence curve as in Figure 3. This vineyard does merit treatment, since the total vines infested is over 5%. Most of the insects that emerged peaked in late July and early August.
Treatments: If the vineyard has an economic population, then the standard treatment would be using Lorsban at the start of adult emergence, which would be now in most years. The material is applied to the soil around the base of each vine, and forms a barrier that kills young larvae as they burrow into the soil and root system. Growers can use any of several formulations. The rates vary depending on the formulation that is used. Lorsban Advanced: Use 4.5 pt/100 gal, with 2 qt applied to a 15 sq ft area around each vine; Lorsban 4E: Use the same amount as with the ‘Advanced’; Lorsban 75WG: Use 3 lb/100 gal, with 1.5 qt applied to 11 sq ft around each vine. There is a 35 day PHI with Lorsban products for grapes. Do not contact the fruit surface, and apply only to the soil at the base of each vine.