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Date: May 10, 2016 5:30pm
Location: Ken Wightman’s Farm,
1111 Mt. Kemble Ave,
Morristown, NJ
Fruit growers and industry are invited to the North Jersey Tree Fruit Twilight Meeting on May 10 5:30 PM at Ken Wightman’s Farm.The program includes: Wightman Farm orchard tour, fungicide update, chemical thinning of apple, and early season pests update.
NJDEP pesticide recertification credits (CORE, PP2 and 1A) will be offered.
See you there!
Download FlyerFor more information contact Morris County Ag Agent Peter Nitzsche @ (973) 285‑8304
Tree Fruit Edition
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May 4, 2016 Dan Kluchinski
North Jersey Tree Fruit: May 10, 2016 On-Farm Twilight Meeting
May 3, 2016 Wes Kline
On-Farm Food Safety:
The Difference Between an Audit & an Inspection
Over the last 15 years we have talked about third party audits to verify your food safety plan. Now you are hearing about inspections.
What is the difference?
Audits
Audits are voluntary evaluations that growers are doing at the request of their buyers. Some growers may not think that audits are voluntary since some growers have been told if they did not have one, a specific buyer would not purchase their produce. That is true, but you still had the choice to sell to someone else if you did not want to go through the audit process. The audit was verifying what you said you were doing for food safety.
Inspections
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has added the inspection component to food safety. The final FSMA rule went into effect January 2016. As FSMA is implemented over the next two to four years, growers will hear more about inspections and how it may impact their operations. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now has more authority for fresh produce which adds another layer of compliance for growers. Inspections will be done by a government entity with specific requirements and implies some type of enforcement in the future. FDA is not in any hurry to start an enforcement program. They have made it clear that education is the first priority, but in reality sometime in the future there will be enforcement. Who will do the inspections is still being decided between FDA and the different states. In New Jersey, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture will probably be the lead agency as it relates to farms and on farm packinghouses.
Coping with New Rules: On-Farm Readiness Review
There is a group of extension personnel from Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina working with the National Association State Departments of Agriculture on a grant from the FDA to develop an On Farm Readiness Review. This will be a self-assessment tool for growers, extension personnel and inspectors to help everyone when a farm is inspected. The plan is to have the final version available next year.
Growers will receive training over the next year to help comply with the Produce Rule in FSMA. The good news is growers who have been through a third party audit already meet or exceed most requirements for FSMA. Water testing is the one area where there are differences, but the training will help clarify those differences.
April 29, 2016 Dean Polk
Fruit IPM for 4-27-2016
Peach
Oriental Fruit Moth: An OFM biofix was set for April 3 in southern counties. Treatments for the first flight will be due at 170-200 degree days after the first trap captures or “biofix.” According to the NEWA weather station in Upper Deerfield, we reached 170 DD on 4/22. Therefore the first applications for OFM should be applied between 4/22 – 4/25. The second application is due about 5/6-8. In northern counties, as represented at the Snyder Farm location the first application will be due about 5/2 and the second application between 5/10-12. Oriental fruit moth has 4 generations per year in NJ. The highest population of adult moths usually present in the season produces this first brood. Therefore this is the most important generation to treat. This is particularly true if you have peach blocks with little to no crop, and you want a minimal program for those blocks. If you don’t treat for any other insects in those blocks, treat for this first generation. This will protect the trees from much of the early terminal flagging that will occur if left untreated.
Plum Curculio (PC): PC adults usually begin egg laying once the fruit is out of the shuck. Preferred materials that offer PC control now are Avaunt, and Imidan. If using high rates of a neonicotinoid (i.e. Actara, Belay, Assail), be aware that there is a synergistic effect when used in tank mixes with DMI materials (i.e. Rally) with regard to bee toxicity. Neonicotinoids should not be used if there are any flowering weeds in your orchard. Those flowering weeds will attract bees, which will be killed by the insecticide. The use of most of these products when bees are present is off label and therefore not legal. If pyrethroids are being used, then high rates are advisable, since low rates often do not control PC, especially in hot weather. Where PC is a problem, growers should rotate away from pyrethroid insecticides if possible. Actara and Belay will also control PC (and GPA), but not OFM. [Read more…]
April 26, 2016 Anne Nielsen
Insect Management with Low Fruit Load
After the critically cold temperatures in early April followed by several other nights of below freezing temperatures, NJ peach and apple growers have experienced loss of blossoms and/or fruit set. While the extent of the injury may still be too early to tell for some varieties, the cold weather has not stopped insect pests and where no fruit will be harvested we need to adjust our approach to insect management. This provides an opportunity to use selective materials where possible and allow natural enemy populations to attack some key pests.
Terminal flagging from Oriental fruit moth egg laying
Oriental Fruit Moth lays its eggs of at least the first and second generation in peach terminals. Due to low or absent fruit loads, the trees will be very flush and provide lots of oviposition sites. Injury to terminals is noticeable by “flagging” of the terminals. If unmanaged, populations will be high in 2017 and could be difficult to control. Thus management of at least the first and second generation OFM needs to occur. I would strongly recommend using mating disruption, such as OFM TT, for unharvestable orchards. This will control all 4 generations and significantly reduce OFM pressure next year without harming beneficial insects. Mating disruption dispensers are placed in the middle of the tree canopy and can be placed now. See label for rate information. Sprayable mating disruption such as Checkmate OFM-F can be applied at 1.32 – 2.93 oz/A applied just prior to adult flight and again during flight. For chemical options, we generally use 5-6 male moths in a trap as a trigger for management. If monitoring traps exceed 5-6, then the use of either Madex HP or a diamide chemistry (ie. Altacor) is recommended. Madex HP is an insect virus that only attacks OFM and codling moth and is very effective in both research and commercial trials in NJ at rates from 1.5 – 3.0 oz/acre. Both Madex and the diamides will have minimal impact on natural enemies but have good control of OFM and should be applied at diamide timing according to the DD model (see NJ Tree Fruit Production Guide or PPA posts from IPM scouting). Codling moth and OFM in apple will likely not require management but should still be monitored. [Read more…]
April 13, 2016 Norman Lalancette
Cold Injury: Disease Control in Peach Orchards without Fruit
Cold injury to peach flowers and primordial fruit occurred during the evening of April 5-6 as temperatures dropped below freezing. At the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center, air temperatures first dropped below 32ºF at 10 pm Tuesday and remained below freezing until 9 am Wednesday morning. The lowest temperatures of 22 to 23 ºF occurred for four hours between 4 and 7 am. The average low temperature during the entire 12 hour cold period was 25.5 ºF. [Read more…]
March 31, 2016 Administrator
Weather Alert: Protect Flowering Crops Against Frost
DEP, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TEAM UP TO ALLOW FARMERS TO PROTECT FLOWERING CROPS AGAINST FROST CONDITIONS EXPECTED EARLY NEXT WEEK
(16/17) TRENTON – With temperatures in many parts of the state expected to approach freezing over the weekend into early next week, the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Agriculture are working cooperatively to allow farmers to do controlled open burning or use specialized torches known as smudge pots to protect flowering crops from frost damage.Forecasts call for near or below freezing conditions overnight Saturday through April 5. The cold temperatures could affect fruit and vegetable crops, as well as flowers in bloom or near bloom. Peaches, blueberries and apples are particularly susceptible. Frost damage now can significantly reduce yields of these crops later in the season.
The DEP and Department of Agriculture are allowing these steps through April 5 to protect farmers’ livelihoods and to ensure that consumers will be able to enjoy an ample supply of Jersey produce later this year.
[Read more…]
