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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May 13, 2015

Fruit IPM Report 5-13-2015

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Peach

Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): The flight captures really jumped this past week, especially in northern counties where some farms are seeing over 100 moths per trap. This is a reference point for 2 factors: First, OFM treatments should be ongoing during this time – see table below; and the first generation flight is usually the highest, and the most important to control. For those growers using the diamide insecticides (Altacor, Belt, Voliam mixes, and Tourismo), the timing for the second application in southern counties is now. Insecticides are required according to the degree day timings in the table below. These timings should be used for most farms. If you have high insect pressure, then additional sprays may be needed. If your trap counts exceed 6-8 males per trap 7 to 10 days after the second spray, then additional controls may be required.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Tree Fruit
May 13, 2015

Insect Pests to Look for in Cranberry Bogs

The following insect pests bear special mention for early-season scouting in cranberry bogs.
Click images to enlarge.

Blackheaded Fireworm

Blackheaded fireworm eggs overwinter on the bed and usually hatch by around mid-May. It is important to catch the first generation, if possible, because the second generation occurs during bloom and is typically much more destructive. Blackheaded fireworm larvae can be detected by sweep net sampling and it is good idea to look along the edges of bed where vines first begin to grow.

Blackheaded fireworm Larva

Blackheaded fireworm Larva Photo:D.Schiffhauer

Blackheaded fireworm Adult

Blackheaded fireworm Adult Photo:D.Schiffhauer

 

Blackheaded fireworm is much easier to control if detected during the early part of the season.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cranberry
May 7, 2015

Fruit IPM Report 5-7-2015

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Peach

Thrips including western flower thrips: Thrips are being found in southern peach and nectarine blocks. This is common in years when we have warm dry weather during and shortly after bloom. Delegate is the best material to use, followed by Lannate. Entrust can also be used but will be more expensive. Both Delegate and Lannate will control OFM, but neither does a good job on PC. Closer is labeled for thrips suppression, but it’s use is discouraged if high thrips populations are present.

Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): As of 5/7 we have accumulated 229 DD in southern counties. In northern counties the biofix was set for 4/28. We have had 140 DD accumulate since then.  The first of two applications for OFM should be going on now in southern counties, and about 5/10-12 in northern counties (using Snyder Farm as our degree day point).
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blueberry, Tree Fruit
May 6, 2015

Of Thrips and Aphids

Ocassionally, flower thrips can be an early season pest of peach and nectarine, especially when conditions during bloom are hot and dry. That seems to be the case this season as 6 out of 7 nectarine blocks scouted in Gloucester County had low populations of thrips present. At least one block had low levels of injury present. Mostly adults were found but examinations of fruitlets found some nymphs present in the shucks. If left untreated, damage can occur unless conditions turn cool and wet. Growers can scout for thrips using beating trays to look for adults, or by collecting blossoms to look for nymphs feeding inside the shucks. Peach may be less susceptible to damage than nectarine because the fuzz acts as a deterrent. Growers should also look for aphid populations while scouting for thrips as aphids are just starting to appear in southern county orchards. Use a treatment threshold of 1 aphid colony per tree in nectarines and 2-4 colonies per tree in peach.

There aren’t many choices for thrips control in Nectarines.  Delegate and Entrust at the high rates are very effective.  Where aphids are also present, the neonicitinoids Actara and Closer will control aphids but may only suppress thrips. Lannate SP has a good rating for thrips and aphids in our production guide but field experience is variable. Carzol is no longer labeled for Peach and Nectarine.

Remember also that Oriental Fruit Moth, Plum Curculio, and native plant bugs are key pests at this timing so any insecticides applied for thrips and/or aphids will be in addition to applications of effective materials for these important pests.

Filed Under: Tree Fruit
May 5, 2015

Performing a Detailed Inspection of Wine Grape Planting Material

Figure 1. A bundle of healthy grafted grape vines. These vines are moist, have healthy roots, and are clearly labeled.

Figure 1. A bundle of healthy grafted grape vines. These vines are moist, have healthy roots, and are clearly labeled.

Spring is a good time to plant new grapevines as the soil is warm and moist enough to support early growth and vines get plenty of time to get established during the growing season that follows. When your order of vines arrives, make sure that your planting material is of good quality before it is planted.

Source Planting Materials from Quality Nurseries

The best way to begin ensuring that you have good, healthy and productive grapevines is to source planting material from nurseries that provide clean materials or certified vines. Planting material from nurseries that follow quality assurance protocols reduces the chances of getting diseased or weak planting material.
Certified material means cuttings come from a source block that was properly managed, subjected to regular inspections for insect pests, disease damage, and tested for virus right from propagation through packaging. These nurseries also go through independent third party audits.

Make sure that planting material comes with documents or labels that will help in tracing plants back to the original source. Each bundle of vines should have proper labels describing primary information such as variety, clone, rootstock and some kind of batch number. Make sure your planting material was shipped promptly after packing and came in a temperature-controlled vehicle. Presently there are no certified nurseries in New Jersey; however, there are several certified nurseries available in California and few in Oregon, Washington and New York. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Wine Grape
May 5, 2015

Cranberry IPM: Sparganothis Fruitworm Degree-Day Benchmarks Provide Key Treatment Timings

Degree-day benchmarks indicate discrete biological events in the development of insect pests. For the Sparganothis fruitworm, recent studies conducted by Dr. Shawn Steffan (USDA-ARS/University of Wisconsin-Madison), Annie Deutsch (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Cesar Rodriguez-Saona (Rutgers University) have isolated the key development events and linked them to degree-day (DD) accumulations. These degree-day accumulations can improve treatment timings for cranberry IPM programs in spring and summer.

Sparganothis adult

Sparganothis adult

Sparganothis larva

Sparganothis larva

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cranberry