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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Snyder Farm Twilight Tour & Meeting, Wed. August 23, 2023

collage of hemp, a drone and agrivoltaic installation at Rutgers Snyder Farm

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.

NJDA Ag Recycling Program — 1 CORE Credit Award: See Dates for Atlantic, Monmouth, & Salem Sites

Pesticide container disposal is offered to agricultural, professional, and commercial pesticide applicators who hold a NJDEP pesticide license. One core credit will be given to pesticide license holders who follow required processing steps and bring their license with them at time of collection.  The program accepts non-refillable, high-density polyethylene #2 (HDPE) containers that are no […]

Tree Fruit IPM Report for August 14, 2023

Peach:

Oriental Fruit Moth: A biofix point for OFM was set on 4/10 in both northern and southern counties.  All timings for OFM have past. Additional treatments are only necessary if trap captures exceed 6 adults/trap:

Brown Rot: Brown rot is now appearing in ripening fruit in all regions. Most rotting fruit is the result of fruit that is damaged due to cracking from excessive rain or split pits. Highly effective rot materials such as DMI’s (FRAC group 3) and Strobilurins (FRAC group 11) should be applied beginning 3 – 4 weeks prior to harvest. See the NJ Commercial Tree Fruit Production Guide for more information.

Scale Insects: Second generation crawler emergence is just past peak for San Jose Scale and White Peach Scale. White Peach scale has a third generation in September and San Jose scale may have a third generation in October. Esteem and Centaur are both good scale materials. Esteem and Centaur should be applied at the start of crawler emergence. These materials should only need one application. Other options include: Assail, Belay, Actara (Group 4A): Closer (Group 4C); Sivanto (Group 4D) and the bioinsecticide Venerate. These products may need more than one application, typically 2 applications bracketing peak crawler emergence which should occur between the first and third week of August. Only Venerate has a 0 day PHI, making it useful for blocks near or at harvest. Diazinon is also still labelled for peach and apple: for San Jose Scale, it is labeled at a rate of 1#/100 with a 21 day PHI for both peach and apple; for White Peach Scale it is labeled at a rate of 1.5-2#/100 for post-harvest application only. The label requires 14 days between applications.

Apples and Pears:

Diseases: Primary diseases now are the summer diseases such as bitter rot, and sooty blotch and fly speck. Bitter rot control has been difficult at best in recent years even where management programs have been rigorous. Research has suggested products such as Merivon, Luna Sensation and Inspire Super may be effective, and longtime reliable broad spectrum fungicides such as captan and ziram should provide control. Experience has suggested that the addition of phosphorous acid products such as Prophyt or Rampart to captan sprays may improve control. Observations are that these products improve control of other summer diseases such as sooty blotch and flyspeck, and may help suppress scab infections where present. Bitter Rot symptoms continue to appear in all growing regions.

Codling Moth (CM): The first generation codling moth timings have ended. Additional applications should be made if trap captures exceed 5 moths/trap. Trap captures continue and increased slightly in most southern county orchards this week. A biofix was set for CM on April 17th in both northern and southern counties. Codling moth trap captures continue. Most are below threshold, with only a few above 5 moths/trap.

Scale Insects: See peach section above.

Tree Fruit Trap Captures – Southern Counties

STLM TABM-A CM BMSB OFM-A DWB OFM-P TABM-P LPTB PTB
4/15/2023 433 20 1
4/23/2023 423 1 13 8 4
4/30/2023 417 7 15 4 1 0
5/06/2023 9 2 3 1 0 0
5/13/2023 18 2 7 2 3 0 6 6
5/20/2023 5 18 6 0 51 0 13 67
5/27/2023 1 11 4 0 17 0 11 49
6/03/23 3 8 2 1 24 0 13 65
6/10/2023 21 14 5 0 55 0 6 54 0
6/17/2023 10 11 5 0 57 0 8 46 4
6/24/2023 15 5 2 0 57 0 6 47 2
7/1/2023 342 3 0 0 69 0 3 37 6
7/8/2023 463 0 0 0 26 0 0 35 6
7/15/2023 456 0 0 0 0 50 0 0 37 5
7/22/2023 25 0 1 0 0 57 0 0 38 3
7/29/2023 136 0 1 0 0 48 0 0 22 3
8/6/2023 321 0 2 0 0 54 0 0 20 5
8/13/2023 387 1 3 0 0 54 0 0 22 10

Tree Fruit Trap Captures – Northern Counties

STLM TABM-A CM BMSB OFM-A DWB OFM-P TABM-P LPTB PTB
4/8/2023 10
4/15/2023 20 3
4/30/2023 28 11 6
5/06/2023 22 2 19 9
5/13/2023 34 1 3 2 5 0
5/20/2023 31 6 7 1 6 0
5/27/23 16 18 4 1 17 3 11
6/03/23 12 26 2 0 17 2 12
6/10/2023 21 14 5 0 55 0 54
6/17/2023 63 53 2 1 15 1 6
6/24/2023 134 52 3 1 0 11 3 8
7/1/2023 87 33 1 1 0 12 4 1 3
7/8/2023 296 37 1 1 0 30 0 0 1
7/15/2023 189 9 1 1 0 28 4 4 8
7/22/2023 177 6 1 0 0 46 1 3 6
7/29/2023 145 1 2 1 0 24 1 2 2

Private Applicators: NJDEP August Mailing of 2024 Invoices & Recertification Credit Status

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has mailed out pesticide license credit status to applicator, operator, and dealer mailing addresses of record. If you have not received your notice please review “NJDEP Pesticide Licensing & Registrations – 2024 Pesticide License Renewal Information“. If you are a Private Pesticide Applicator with a license expiration of […]