Tree Fruit Edition

Seasonal updates on insects, diseases, weeds, maturity dates and cultural practices impacting only tree fruit.
 
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April 27, 2020

Ask the Ag Agent Weekly Online/Call-In Forum and New Web Page

Ask the Ag Agent was created when COVID-19 forced a new normal in communications nationwide. Rutgers Cooperative Extension Agricultural Agents working with “Ask the Ag Agent” education and outreach are cAsk the Ag agentommitted to the agriculture industry and all interested in growing plants, raising livestock and essential resources related to agriculture. The program now features a new Ask the Ag Agent website with more information.

Farmers and others are welcome to join a weekly teleconference each Wednesday night from 7:00pm-8:00pm. Weekly events are hosted by Rutgers Cooperative Extension Agricultural Agents working with the farming industry.

This call-in/WebEx event features updates on farm management, crop conditions, farm industry observations, agricultural agency programs and other topics discussed by farmers, agricultural agents and other agricultural service providers.

Hosted by Bill Bamka, Stephen Komar, Michelle Infante-Casella and Meredith Melendez, this weekly communication provides a forum for discussion for farmers and all involved in NJ agriculture. Agricultural agency personnel, non-profit organizations and others have participated and added additional discussion with farmers.

This event and other events hosted by Rutgers Cooperative Extension can be found on the Rutgers NJAES Events website.

To join the “Ask the Ag Agent” forum each week on a computer/tablet/smartphone via the WebEx Videoconference:

Use the URL: https://go.rutgers.edu/rc9n3kxtiPhone

To join the “Ask the Ag Agent” each week on the Phone:
Call: (650)-429-3300
Access Code: 799-743-872 # followed by #

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Disease Forecasting, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Plant Diagnostic Lab, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Uncategorized, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: , ,
April 27, 2020

Tree Fruit IPM Report for April 28, 2020

Disease Control in Freese Damaged Orchards: Dr. Lalancette has published his recommendations for how to protect tree fruit from diseases in freeze damaged orchards.

Tree Fruit Phenology: Tree Fruit Phenology remains advanced, but development is slowing. In southern counties peach orchards are at Shuck Split. We are now only about 5 days ahead of the median date for shuck split. Pears are late bloom/Petal Fall. Red Delicious was about Full Bloom on 4/25. Cherries are about full Bloom. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Tree Fruit Tagged With: , , , ,
April 27, 2020

Penn State Webinar: H-2A Agricultural Workers in Times of Uncertainty

Penn State Cooperative Extension is hosting a free webinar to discuss the H-2A program in Pennsylvania. This may be helpful for NJ Farmers to listen in to find any updates or tips on how to handle this agricultural worker program. You must register to join this online event. In order to register you will need to create an account on the Penn State advertisement page.

Webinar Date: Thu., May 7, 2020
(6:30 PM – 8:00 PM ET)

Registration deadline: May 7, 2020
5:30 p.m.

COVID-19 mitigation efforts, including international travel restrictions and consulate closures, have disrupted the normal functioning of the H-2A visa program for temporary workers. These disruptions to the H-2A program raise questions about the timely arrival of guest workers and the impact on essential food and agricultural businesses. The H-2A Agricultural Workers in Times of Uncertainty Webinar will provide answers and guidance to the many questions surrounding this topic.
The dangers of COVID-19 itself similarly raises questions around how to protect the health and well-being of H-2A visa holders. As front-line workers, the protection of their livelihoods and health are integrally tied to the protection of public health.

Penn State Extension will be holding a townhall-style webinar to address these topics, and to provide answers and guidance to these questions. Join us as we hear from a panel of subject matter experts, including Brook Duer, Staff Attorney at the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law; Grant Meckley, Pennsylvania Keystone Health’s Agricultural Worker Program; Scott Sheely, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Agriculture Council; and Richard Stup, Agricultural Workforce Specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Also joining us will be Alyssa Charney, Agriculture Legislative Assistant from Senator Casey’s Office.

Attendees will have the opportunity to either send in questions ahead of time, or during the webinar itself, for a Q&A session following the panelists’ overview and update on the H-2A visa program.

There is no cost for this webinar, however registration is required to receive the webinar link. To go to the registration page you can also see https://go.rutgers.edu/if9tsm4h.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Fruit, Organic Production, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Uncategorized, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: ,
April 27, 2020

Dealing with Stress on the Farm During Trying Times

This is a stressful time for many people in our country and especially on the farm. With constant updates from government officials and media sharing new about the pandemic and the fear of the unknown for the future, it is understandable to feel overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. Seeing other farmers around the nation struggling with crop losses and distribution nightmares makes other farmers wonder what is yet to come. You are not alone and there are resources to help if you are struggling with stress and anxiety.

For assistance contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Disaster Distress Helpline at 800-985-5990, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text MHFA to 741741 to talk to a Crisis Text Line counselor.

Farmers often feel they may be mentally and physically tougher than most people. That may be true. However, it is understandable if you are feeling depressed or anxious right now, just like the millions of people across the country who are facing the same worries and challenges. It’s perfectly understandable since most people have never experienced times like we are facing now. It’s extremely important to take care of your mental health. Helping yourself means you will be able to help others in the future.

While times may not change as quickly as we would like, there are easy self-care strategies that can help reduce feelings of depression and anxiety, or prevent anxiety before it even starts.

Here are some tips that may help:
1. Eat healthy foods to keep your body in top working order and avoid foods/beverages that cause issues with underlying health conditions.
2. Exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. Exercise is not the same as regular activity at work. Take a brisk walk or jog down a farm road, ride a bike, lift weights (even if you need to make your own out of what you have around the farm and start light).
3. Practice relaxation therapy. Focusing on tensing and relaxing muscle groups can help you relax voluntarily when feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious. Concentrate on the shoulder and neck regions of the body, where stress often builds.
4. Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself with the same compassion you would a friend and allow others to help as you would help them.
5. Stay connected. Even if you can’t get together face-to-face, you can stay connected to friends, family and neighbors with phone calls, text messages, video chats and social media. If you’re feeling lonely, sad or anxious, reach out to your social support networks – all is kept confidential. Share what you are feeling and offer to listen to friends or family members about their feelings. We are all experiencing this scary and uncPerson holding a fishertain time together.
6. Monitor media consumption. While you might want to stay up-to the minute with COVID-19 news, too much exposure can be overwhelming. Balance media consumption with other activities you enjoy, such as playing with pets, reading, cooking, fishing at the farm pond, playing games with family or listening to music.

Adding small changes to your routine each day can make a big difference to your overall mood and well-being. Just remember, if you need help, help is available.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Disease Forecasting, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Plant Diagnostic Lab, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Uncategorized, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape Tagged With: ,
April 24, 2020

Disease Management in Cold-Injured Peach Orchards

Several recent overnight cold periods have damaged newly fertilized flowers and/or very young fruit in New Jersey peach orchards. The percent of injured fruit in any particular orchard block varies with cultivar and location. Some blocks have enough un-injured fruit to be salvaged for the growing season. Their economic return will be sufficient to warrant a continuation of standard practices.

In those orchards that lack sufficient fruit, the tendency may be to abandon the spray program. After all, these blocks will produce no revenue, so any activity will result in a net economic loss. However, this thinking is short-sited.  Without any form of control, the pathogens will use this summer as an opportunity to increase their populations and, therefore, the amount of overwintering inoculum for the 2021 season. Next year will be a struggle to control disease, especially if the weather is favorable for disease development.

In cold-injured, non-bearing orchards, the three diseases of concern are scab, bacterial spot, and brown rot. The goal will be to provide enough control for disease suppression while keeping costs to a minimum. Details for their control are presented below.

Peach Scab. Fusicladium carpophilum, the causal agent of peach scab, overwinters in twig lesions on current season fruiting wood. In southern New Jersey, spores are produced on these lesions from bloom through early July (~ mid-July in north Jersey). During rain periods, these spores are disseminated to both fruit and the current season’s vegetative shoots. So, even though fruit may not be present (or in low numbers), control is necessary to prevent build-up of shoot infections, which will provide inoculum for the 2021 season. Note these lesions will not be visible until next spring.

If control of fruit scab during the 2019 season was excellent (≤ 5% fruit infected), then this is an indication that the current number of overwintering lesions on shoots may also be low. In this case, the application of Captan 80WDG (2.5 lb/A) at shuck split (SS), first cover (1C), and second cover (2C) followed by bi-weekly sulfur (8-10 lb actual/A) sprays until early July should be sufficient for scab control this season. The captan applied from SS-2C will also control any latent brown rot infection on young green fruit (susceptible until pit-hardening at ~ 2C), assuming they are present.

If >5% of fruit were infected with scab at harvest in 2019, then the current number of overwintering lesions on shoots may also be high. In this case, applications of Flint Extra 3.8 fl oz/A (formerly Gem) at SS and 1C and Quadris Top 12 fl oz/A at 2C followed by bi-weekly sulfur sprays will provide a very strong program for scab control; this program will also manage latent brown rot infection on any green fruit present.  If Quadris Top cannot be used because the sprayer is also used on apples (phytotoxicity! see label), then substitute Captan for the Quadris Top.

An intermediate scab program can also be considered. In this case, Flint Extra is applied at SS, Captan at 1C and 2C, followed by the sulfur cover sprays every two weeks until early July.  In all of these programs, the Flint Extra acts as an anti-sporulant on the overwintering scab lesions, reducing spore production by 70% for the entire season.

Bacterial Spot. During the growing season from about petal fall onward, the bacterial spot pathogen Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni infects fruit, leaves, and current season vegetative shoots (summer cankers) on susceptible cultivars. Thus, the lack of fruit doesn’t prevent the occurrence of an epidemic on the foliage and shoots. If no control is applied, then a larger than usual number of infected leaves, summer cankers, and epiphytic inoculum may be present going into the post-harvest season. This higher level of inoculum may result in a greater number of spring cankers formed for the 2021 season.

Given the above scenario, some form of disease control or suppression is warranted.  Bi-weekly sprays of a copper bactericide at 0.5 oz actual (metallic) copper per acre should be sufficient. The goal is to keep inoculum levels low advancing into the post-harvest season. Oxytetracycline, applied prior to critical warm, rainy periods, could also be used. However, the expense of this antibiotic is probably not warranted given the lack of economic return from a non-bearing block.

Brown Rot. If no fruit are present, then control is not needed. In low-yielding peach blocks not destined for harvest, the main goal for brown rot control is to prevent the formation of overwintering mummies. If the brown rot pathogen Monilinia fructicola is allowed to infect and colonize fruit very quickly, then the abscission layer in the petiole may be killed. This action will thereby prevent fruit from falling naturally; the fruit remains attached, becoming a mummy.

Fruit should be marginally protected so that they mature, ripen, and fall from the tree before a significant amount of brown rot occurs. A single spray of any fungicide rated with good to excellent control (e.g., Captan, Indar, Bumper, Fontelis) applied between 9 and 18 days prior to harvest should be sufficient.

An alternative to fungicide control at preharvest would be to simply remove the mummies during the winter or 2021 pruning operation. Or the fruit could be removed earlier in the 2020 season. Either way, fruit or mummy removal eliminates the need for a preharvest brown rot spray. Early 2020 fruit removal also eliminates the possibility of scab or bacterial spot infection on any fruit that survived the cold period.

Filed Under: Tree Fruit
April 20, 2020

Integrating Management for Key Orchard Pests

 

By: Robert McDougall and Anne L. Nielsen

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the practice of using biological information to efficiently and effectively control pests while reducing reliance of pesticides. IPM is typically depicted as a pyramid of tactics that build on each other moving from least toxic at the bottom to most disruptive at the top. But in practice, IPM for insects in tree fruit relies primarily on application of synthetic insecticides guided by degree-day timing or trap counts. We want to flip the “IPM pyramid” around to emphasize that insecticides are the last tool for pest management and build upon other biologically-based practices.

Graphic describing management practices for orchard pests

By Anne Nielsen

The least disruptive means of pest control are cultural measures, those that seek to prevent pests from becoming problematic in the first place. These can include measures such as planting resistant cultivars, practicing good hygiene to prevent pest entry and maintaining diverse plantings in crop margins to encourage natural biological control agents (e.g. other insects that eat pests). In tree fruit, cultural control may include rootstock resistant to wooly apple aphid or removal and burning of pruned limbs and dying trees (for borer or scale management) which removes infested plant material and habitat for other pests.

For curative action, a central component of IPM programs depends on monitoring programs to identify pest species, occurrence and seasonality, and abundance. This is achieved primarily through direct sampling of plant tissue or baited traps. Regardless of the monitoring method, it must be conducted frequently, weekly at best. Monitoring can also establish biofix dates to start accumulating degree-days that when applied to models predict life stages of insects based on available heat units for development.

Upon identification of key pests within the orchard, the next action can take on a wide range of forms depending on the pest. This can include biological control measures, such as enhancing or introducing a natural enemy of the pest into the system in the hope of controlling it. Interactions between natural enemies and pests occur naturally within an orchard, but the strength of the interaction can be weakened through chemical insecticides and lead to outbreaks of pests, particularly aphids, mites, thrips, and scales. Implementation of reduced input or non-chemical methods can protect populations of natural enemies such as predators or parasitoids within the orchard and prevent a pest from becoming actionable. An example of a biological control program currently under investigation is controlling the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug with the Samurai Wasp, a tiny stingless Asian wasp which lays its eggs in BMSB eggs, preventing them from hatching and producing more Samurai Wasps instead of stink bugs.

The next IPM tool is behavioral management which changes the behavior of the insect so that less insecticide can be used. Insects, like other animals, have predicable behaviors, that once understood can be exploited for management. Two common approaches include altering insect behavior with pheromones (ie. mating disruption or attract-and-kill) or exploiting dispersal behaviors to apply targeted management (ie. border sprays). Mating disruption uses a species’ own sex pheromone to reduce mating within the orchard. This is accomplished by placing multiple dispensers containing pheromone throughout the orchard. This changes the behavior of male moths that are searching for females and results in fewer females laying eggs within the orchard (and cleaner fruit at harvest). For many insect species, including Oriental Fruit Moth and borers, no additional insecticide is needed (based on monitoring trap thresholds). Mating disruption for Oriental Fruit Moth in peaches can cost the same if not less than insecticide management and is highly effective. Mating disruption technology against borers is becoming increasingly necessary as further use restrictions change for Lorsban.

The behavioral tactic attract-and-kill places high doses of pheromone, usually an aggregation pheromone, on select trees to attract males and females (and sometimes nymphs) to a tree where they can then be killed with an insecticide. It is not believed to bring additional insects into the orchard, rather it brings those that are already there into one area. A second type of behavioral control is the use of border sprays. Many insects are often found in greater numbers in the edges of orchards because their dispersal is arrested due to visual cues provided by trees on the orchard edge. A border spray is usually defined as spraying the outer rows of orchard trees with insecticide. This tactic has shown to be very successful for controlling brown marmorated stink bug in peaches and apples, and reduces insecticide sprays by 25% relative to alternate row middle applications. Plum curculio also exhibits this behavior, and Rutgers is currently investigating whether it can be effectively controlled by spraying just the outer two rows of orchards during movement into the orchard.

IPM practices have evolved considerably in the past few decades and orchards are managed safer and more efficiently each year. Some of the IPM tactics described above may already be part of your orchard management practices. But as production cost increases are not instep with fruit prices, tactics that rely less on insecticide inputs will help protect orchard viability.

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