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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DCPA (Dacthal) Technical Herbicide Product Suspended by EPA
Tree Fruit IPM Report for August 25, 2023
Peach:
Borers: Where mating disruption dispensers are used there should be no need for butt sprays. If mating disruption was not used, the only other options are pyrethroids with a label for the use. The New Jersey Commercial Tree Fruit Production Guide recommends either Asana or Pounce. Pyrethroids lack a long residual so our recommendation would be a late August/early September butt spray followed by an additional application in mid to late September. Since this would be a labor intensive practice it would be most efficient to give priority younger and most productive orchards. Remember to follow the label as to the maximum allowable amount per season of either material.
Apples and Pears
Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs: Brown Marmorated Stink bugs are nearly absent in orchards statewide, likewise native stinkbug populations have been very low. If stinkbugs are a concern for your orchard, see the NJ Tree Fruit Production guide for effective materials. If treatment is needed for orchards near harvest. Venerate has a +++ rating for stink bugs and a 0 day PHI. In tests conducted by Dr. Neilsen’s lab, Venerate always performed better when applied at half the highest labeled rate.
Codling Moth (CM): Second generation treatments according to the degree day model are now over. Additional treatments should be made if trap captures are over 5 moths/trap. Most orchards have very low CM pressure, however a few orchards have had continuing trap captures above threshold.
Summer Diseases: Disease control is over for early season apple varieties. Mid to late season varieties will need further applications on a two week schedule until mid september for sooty blotch and fly speck.
Lesser Appleworm: In 2022 some orchards in southern counties have had internal worm damage that we think was Lesser Apple Worm. This sporadic pest sometimes shows up in late summer and fall. The damage is similar to codling moth. Larvae complete their life cycle quickly and often by the time damage is seen the larvae is already gone. Typically LAW will feed in the fruit calyx and not go into the flesh, however they may also feed on fruit flesh excavating a small hole under the skin and occasionally tunneling into the fruit. Control options are the same as for codling moth. LAW can be monitored using traps baited with OFM pheromone.
Grape
Bunch Rots: Disease management continues to focus on downy and powdery mildew and also turns to bunch rot management. Refer to the NJ Commercial Grape Production Guide as well as the linked presentation from Dr. Nita in Virginia.
Grape Berry Moth: The timing for the third generation is past. In some hot summers a fourth generation may occur, however no further treatments should be needed, especially where insecticides are being applied for SLF and SWD.
Drosophila’s and Sour Rot: SWD adults are being caught in and around commercial vineyards. As the sugars start to increase in early verities like Chardonnay, be aware of Spotted Wing Drosophila combined with native fruit fly species. These populations increase at this time of year and help spread sour rot. Sour rot will only be pres ent when you also have injured fruit. Fruit splits and various insects can help cause that initial injury. It is thought that the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), because of its saw-like ovipositor, can help cause this initial injury, helping to make the fruit more attractive to native drosophilid species. After injury the fruit serves as a food source for ethanol-producing yeasts and acetic acid producing bacteria, the causal agents of sour rot. This in turn attracts more fruit flies to lay more eggs and spread the decay. Good canopy management for air circulation is useful to reduce sour rot incidence. However, this must be combined with insecticides and antimicrobials. A treatment regime that consists of weekly applications of an insecticide (Mustang Maxx (or other pyrethroid), Malathion, Delegate/Entrust, Verdepryn). Add Oxidate 2.0 if fruit cracking from rain or other causes is observed. Since it is important to rotate insecticide classes when treating this often, growers should use no pyrethroid or other insecticide class more that 2 times in a row. These treatments should be started before the onset of visible sour rot and fruit fly presence.
Spotted Lantern Fly: Spotted lantern fly adults are not yet appearing in vineyards, however they should be soon. When the first adults are observed, border treatments with effective materials should be adequate since most adults will be found on vineyard edges and populations will be low. As we move into September adult migration will increase and at that point growers should apply materials with long residual efficacy (refer to the table from Penn State below.) More information on biology and control can be found from Penn State.
Snyder Farm Twilight Tour & Meeting, Wed. August 23, 2023
Twilight Tour and Meeting*
Fiber Hemp Production
Drones in Agriculture
Agrivoltaics Research
Date/Time:
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Location:
Snyder Research and Extension Farm
140 Locust Grove Rd.
Pittstown, NJ 08867
This program is offered to assist producers, and anyone interested in learning more about Fiber Hemp Production and current Agrivoltaics research in NJ.
Topics Include:
- Tour of Rutgers Fiber Hemp Plots
See what the hemp is going on with production and management. Is hemp viable in NJ? - Drone sprayers and ground driven sprayers in agriculture
Learn how drones can be used in agricultural production. Learn the requirements for applying pesticides using drones. - Tour of Rutgers Agrivoltaics Research Plot
Learn about current and planned agrivoltaics research at Rutgers. Are agriculture and solar energy production compatible?
For more information contact: RCE, Sussex County 973-948-3040
*Pesticide credits pending
Soil Fertility from Non-Commercial Nutrient Sources
All essential plant nutrients cycle through the ecosystem of soil, water, air, plant, microbe, and animal. Agronomic information about the composition and beneficial use of waste materials and how the nutrients can be recycled can help growers reduce the need to purchase soil fertility inputs. Many different types of non-commercial nutrient sources are available in New Jersey. Examples include horse manure with bedding, shade tree leaves, lawn clippings, wood chips, food waste, coffee grounds, eggshells, wood ash and more.
With 43,000 horses in New Jersey, there is an abundance of horse manure produced. One horse can produce about 65 pounds of manure plus bedding per day. The quantity of horse manure is substantial on a statewide basis. Unfortunately, sometimes horse manure goes to landfills when it should be used to build and sustain soil fertility.
The Soil Profile Newsletter 2023 issue posted at Rutgers NJAES explains how to build and maintain soil fertility harnessing the nutrient supplying ability of horse manure and many other types of non-commercial materials. The chemical composition and soil fertility value of each material is presented for beneficial use. Available on the web at Rutgers NJAES ‘The Soil Profile’: https://njaes.rutgers.edu/soil-profile/pdfs/sp-v28.pdf
FSMA PSR Qualified Exempt? Keep Up with Your Paperwork!
If your farm is considered qualified exempt from the FSMA Produce Safety Rule you have probably needed to provide paperwork to the NJDA at least once. Farms should be reviewing and updating their documentation that proves qualified exemption status annually and be prepared to show this again to the NJDA when required. Guidance and template forms are available online. Need a refresher on what a qualified exemption is? See below!
Under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, farms are eligible for a qualified exemption and associated modified requirements if they meet certain criteria:
The farm’s food sales averaged less than $610,182 (adjusted for inflation) per year during 2020-2022; and
The average value of the farm’s sales to qualified end-users exceeded the average value of the farm’s sales to all others during the previous three years. A qualified end-user is either (a) the consumer of the food or (b) a restaurant or retail food establishment that is located in the same state or the same Indian reservation as the farm or not more than 275 miles away.
Because of COVID-19, state and local governments across the United States had instituted public health orders that resulted in many restaurants and retail food establishments either closing or significantly limiting their operations, leaving many farmers without their usual buyers during the 2020-2022 period. The guidance intends to allow affected farmers to shift their sales away from qualified end-users while still being considered eligible for the qualified exemption. Specifically, under the temporary policy announced in the guidance, farms that are currently eligible for the qualified exemption and associated modified requirements will still be considered eligible, even if they shift sales away from qualified end-users, so long as they continue to meet the requirement that their average food sales during the previous three years total less than $610,182 (adjusted for inflation). This temporary policy is intended to remain in effect only for the duration of the public health emergency, after which the FDA intends to issue additional guidance.
Qualified exempt farms must comply with modified requirements under the Produce Safety Rule, which include establishing and keeping certain records and prominently displaying their name and business address on food packaging or at the point of sale. Farms are responsible for ensuring that the food they produce is not adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and they should use good agricultural practices to ensure the safety of their produce.