Peach:

Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): Second generation adults are starting to emerge in southern counties, and are about to start in northern counties. The second brood often causes the most damage on peaches, since larvae can enter both growing tips and young fruit. Particular attention should be paid to non-bearing orchards that may not be receiving regular insecticide applications. OFM can build up in non-bearing blocks and create pressure for production blocks. Timing for second brood OFM applications:

Tufted Apple Budmoth (TABM): First flight TABM adults can be found in pheromone traps. These adults will mate and lay eggs throughout most of June. As larvae emerge, they can find their way to the fruit surface where they will between the fruit and the leaves. During most years this has become only a sporadic pest of apples, and is hardly ever seen in peaches. Any treatments that are applied now and through the next week in southern counties will control early emerging larvae. Treatments applied for OFM the following week will also target TABM. Growers who are using mating disruption and not using insecticides should be aware of TABM and check for the insect’s presence.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB): Adults are occasionally seen during orchard scouting. Knock down materials will be required for the remainder of the season in orchards with BMSB populations. Some early season injury is present in scattered orchard blocks.

San Jose Scale (SJS): Crawler emergence is underway in southern counties. If you had known high populations of scale last year, it is important to note if crawlers are present, even if you treated with oil in the early spring. If crawlers are present then treatment options include Esteem, Movento, Centaur, Venerate, and Diazinon. Esteem, Centaur, Venerate and Movento should be applied at the beginning of crawler emergence. Venerate needs to be applied twice during the crawler stage. Diazinon is labeled for only one post bloom or foliar application on stone fruit (Rec = max. of 2 lb/acre of the 50W). The apple label allows up to 2 foliar applications per year as long as a prebloom application was not made. The peach label allows 1 foliar application per year. Foliar applications may cause russet on apples, but has worked in the field for scale crawlers as long as applications are made 1-2 weeks after the start of crawler emergence and again 2 weeks later.

Thrips: Thrips tend to start building up at this time of year in weedy groundcovers and in hedgerows with flowering shrubs. Thrips are more of a problem during dry years, and so far this is anything but a dry year. If this changes then thrips might become an issue – More on this later if we see problem populations

Brown Rot; Anthracnose: Thundershowers and overhead irrigation done around periods of warm temperatures and high humidity can provide good opportunities for brown rot infection, particularly in blocks with damaged fruit or blossom blight. Brown rot is present in the field, seen on cherries this week. Use an improved fungicide program (not sulfur, but captan mixes or alternations) during favorable weather conditions as we have been having. On all varieties, an improved fungicide schedule should be initiated 2 to 3 weeks prior to the first picking.

Bacterial Spot: Leaf symptoms are present in a few areas in both southern and northern counties. With the recent wet conditions additional infections may become visible in a few days. Fruit symptoms may appear in another couple of weeks. Since fruit is still highly susceptible, maintain the protective copper or Mycoshield applications for the present time.

Rusty Spot: Symptoms are appearing in the field now in southern counties. Maintain control measures until about pit hardening.

Apple (and Pear):

Codling Moth (CM): The first codling moth flight continues, with Biofix dates set at May 5 in Upper Deerfield and May 9 for Pittstown. Growers in southern counties should be applying treatments now (2^nd treatment timing). Growers in northern counties should be looking at the following week:

Tufted Apple Budmoth: See peach section above.

Scale Insects: See the scale discussion under the peach section, but add Sivanto to the list of materials that can be used for crawler control on applies.

Summer Diseases: In addition to controlling the summer diseases listed below, secondary scab will soon need control where primary infection symptoms are visible. Primary scab lesions were noted in 2 southern county orchards this past week. If your orchard appears free of scab then the primary diseases of concern are the Rots, Sooty Blotch and Fly Speck. Anthracnose (Bitter Rot) has been troublesome in wet seasons especially on Empire and Honeycrisp. If you are using the extended EBDC schedule, control should be good on most cultivars. However, remember that when using the extended schedule the label limits applications to 21# per season, or 77 days prior to harvest. Where anthracnose control has been difficult consider using a program that rotates any of the following Pristine, Merivon, Captan, or Ziram in your summer program.

Fire Blight: We are now in the shoot blight phase of the disease cycle, and fresh strikes are present in a number of orchards. Sanitation is important both to remove inoculum and to help prevent bitter rot inoculum buildup. Instructions for deciding when and how to cut out fire blight strikes can be found on page 7 of the UMASS bulletin, “An Annual Program for Fire blight Management”.

Grape:

Grape Berry Moth (GBM): A biofix (wild grape bloom) was set for May 28 in Gloucester County, using the MSU/Penn State/Cornell model. Ongoing work at Rutgers is showing that using January 1 also works to set the model, but since the ‘Wild Grape Bloom Date’ model is on the NEWA site, we will follow that here. The date of first wild grape bloom can vary from vineyard to vineyard, so it’s important for growers to set their own biofix to properly use the model since berry moth is keyed into whatever wild grape species are present near your vineyard. Degree days can be tracked using the weather data nearest you at the NEWA website. As of June 4 we have only 171 DD accumulated in the Hammonton area and need 810 DD to reach a treatment target date. This will not happen for about 30 days.

Scouting Calendar Tree Fruit Southern Counties

The following table is intended as an aid for orchard scouting. I t should not be used to time pesticide applications. Median dates for pest events and crop phenology are displayed. These dates are compiled from observations made since 1995 in Gloucester County. Events in northern New Jersey should occur 7-10 days later.

Blueberry:

Plum Curculio (PC): Numbers of actual PC adults found on bushes has decreased over the past week, but some adults are still present. Our average count was 0.02 per bush, with a high of 1.2 adults per bush. Percent injured fruit numbers have also decreased, with an average of 0.079 per bush, with a high of 1.7 infested fruit per bush. Trap counts have also come down slightly, but adult PC are still active.

Aphids: Aphid populations are increasing, and have become the main insect target to take care of prior to embarking on a solid SWD program. Remember that aphids transmit Blueberry Scorch virus, and for all practical purposes they should, and can, be maintained below a level of 10% of new shoots infested with active colonies. Aphid counts have increased, with an average count of 4.5% infested shoots, with a high of 46% infested shoots. Colony size has also increased, showing an average of 6-10 aphids per colony.

Leps and other larvae and worms: Worm numbers have decreased again this week, averaging only 0.012 per bush, with a high of 0.4 larvae per bush. Some injured fruit is present, but those levels have also decreased, averaging about 0.06 per bush. Therefore immature leafroller moth and butterfly larvae (worms) are not targets for control at this time, except cranberry fruitworm – see below.

Cranberry Fruitworm (CBFW): Small larvae and infested fruit from CBFW are present, and average 0.003 per bush with a high of 0.3 per bush. These are very low levels that indicate either good control and/or low populations. Trap counts are very low, implying that most of the adult flight is over.

Summary of insect counts seen during the week of May 28^th – June 2^nd

Summary of percent injury to fruit seen during the week of May 28^th – June 2^nd

Blueberry Trap Captures – Atlantic County

Blueberry Trap Captures – Burlington County

Tree Fruit Trap Counts – Southern Counties

Tree Fruit Trap Counts – Northern Counties