Contents


Current (through June 14) degree day (DD) Accumulations

Location: UMass Cold Spring Orchard (CSO), Belchertown, MA

Base 43: 1324

Base 50: 825

Significant upcoming orchard pest events based on degree days (Base 43):

Lesser appleworm 1st flight subsides: 990-1446

Obliquebanded leafroller summer larvae hatch: 1038-1460

Spotted tentiform leafminer 2nd flight peak: 1360-1790

Peachtree borer 1st catch: 779-1347

Codling moth 1st flight subsides: 1280-1858

Oriental fruit moth 2nd flight begins: 1277-1487

Apple maggot 1st catch: 1234-1640

Orchard Radar insect synopsis (for Belchertown)

http://pronewengland.org/AllModels/MAmodel/RADARMA-Belchertown.htm

First dogwood borer (DB) egg hatch roughly: June 15. Peak hatch roughly: July 22

Codling moth (CM) development as of June 22: 1st generation adult emergence at 99% and 1st generation egg hatch at 85%. In most orchards, insecticide targeted against plum curculio and apple maggot prevent codling moth damage.

Lesser apple worm (LAW): 2nd LAW flight begins around: June 27, Sunday

1st generation Obliquebanded Leafroller (OBLR) flight begins around: May 28, Friday. Where waiting to sample late instar OBLR larvae to determine need for treatment is an option, or to check on results from earlier sprays: Optimum sample date for late instar summer generation OBLR larvae: June 23, Wednesday. If first OBLR late instar larvae sample is below threshold, date for confirmation follow-up: June 26, Saturday

2nd generation Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM) flight begins around June 19, Saturday; first treatment date, if needed: June 26, Saturday; second treatment date, if needed, July 9, Friday

2nd redbanded leafroller (RBLR) flight begins around June 21, Monday; peak catch and approximate start of egg hatch, June 27

Spotted tentiform leafminer (STLM): Rough guess of when 2nd generation sap-feeding mines begin showing: June 23, Wednesday. Optimum first sample date for 2nd generation STLM sapfeeding mines is July 1, Thursday. Second optimized sample date for 2nd generation STLM sapfeeding mines, if needed: July 8, Thursday

Upcoming meetings

July 15, 2010: Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association Summer Meeting, UMass Cold Spring Orchard, Belchertown, MA.10 AM to 3 PM (app.) Details forthcoming, but mark your calendar. Peter Jentsch from Cornell's Hudson Valley Lab wil be our guest speaker. Orchard tour in the morning followed by lunch and afternoon speaking program. BBQ lunch will be provided by Outlook Farm.

 

The way I see it

Diseases:

  • maintain fungicide coverage for summer diseases of apples (sooty blotch, flyspeck, rots) as needed; depending on fungicide used, in the vicinity of 2.5 inches of rain and/or 21 days elapsed should trigger renewed fungicide coverage; keep in mind the season is early this year, so fruit rots will become an issue soon
  • peaches become more susceptible to brown rot infection as they mature; brown rot sprays will likely have to start in early July on early-ripening peaches

Insects:

  • the Orchard Radar insect synopsis should give you a pretty good idea what is active (in Belchertown) and that is based on degree-day models; of particular note would be dogwood borer (trunk sprays now), obliquebanded leafroller (sampling/monitoring for presence and treatment if warranted), and spotted tentiform leafminer if you have them (sampling/monitoring for sap-feeding mines and treatment if warranted)
  • Potato leafhopper (PLH) should be showing up any day now (they have been reported in New Hampshire at least) and you should be scouting young apple orchards for their presence. Typically they cannot be tolerated in young orchard. Best treatment options include: Provado, Actara, Assail, and Calypso.
  • Japanese beetles (JB) will also be making an appearance anytime soon. They can do some damage to ripening stone fruit and foliage, as well as apple foliage and fruit (later). Imidan gives short-term control of JB, as does Sevin XLR+, Assail, Calypso, and Voliam Xpress. Pyrethroid insecticides work too but their efficacy is reduced in hot weather and have negative beneficial insect impacts. For organic (or conventional) growers, Surround, neem compounds (AzaDirect, Ecozin), Pyganic, and Evergreen are all rated fair against JB. All these are registered for use on apples -- check the label to make sure the insecticide is registered for the intended crop use.
  • apple maggot flies (AM) have been captured in Connecticut; too early to treat, but make sure you have your traps up for monitoring

Horticulture:

  • make sure young trees get adequate water during these long, hot days; some wilting is normal but it shows the trees are transpiring faster than they can take up water; water uptake requires energy which could otherwise be put into growth; making it easier to get water means the tree will have to expend less energy
  • calcium sprays should be ongoing; include ethrel or NAA for return bloom enhancement
  • young tree training should be ongoing, including: singling out the central-leader (stripping of competing shoots), pinching shoots to reduce apical dominance and promote fruit bud development, and tying down feathers, again to reduce apical dominance and promote flower bud development
  • ideally hand thinning of peaches and apples should be done by now; if not, ASAP. I have some of the Valent/Cornell University Young Apple Thinning Gauges. These help you judge if you have removed enough fruit to help with return bloom. Let me know if you want one.

JC

frthingauge

The Valent/Cornell University Young Apple Thinning Gauge

The gauge is placed one foot up the trunk of young apple trees to determine how many apples the tree should have to prevent biennial bearing. On this Honeycrisp (H) tree and other varieties prone to biennial bearing, there should be app. 32 apples. For Gala (G) and other varieties that can carry a heavier crop load there should be no more than app. 48 apples.

 

New England Tree Fruit Management Guide update

Thanks to Glen Koehler of the University of Maine for this update to the insecticide characteristics tables to the 2010 New England Tree Fruit Management Guide (http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/2010/2010netfmg.html)

WANTED: Dogwood borers, Peachtree borers, Round- or Flat-headed Apple borers, or other boring insects.

We are doing biocontrol of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a beetle from China that has already killed 10’s of millions of ash trees in the Midwest and has spread to 13 states, including NY. We have already tested and released three parasitic wasps from China for biocontrol, but we will be getting a new parasitic wasp from Russia in a few weeks. We need to conduct safety tests to ensure that if we release this species it will only attack the EAB and not other native borers. To do that, we need to find and rear native borers. Would you please help us and give us a call if your orchard is infested with boring insects (we can collect either adults or mature larvae). We would be happy to take them off your hands and put them to good use. Please contact Tracy Ayer (ext. 248) or Juli Gould (ext. 220) at 508-563-9303 or send us an email at jennifer.ayer@aphis.usda.gov or juli.r.gould@aphis.usda.gov. Thank you in advance.

Juli Gould, Entomologist
USDA-APHIS-PPQ
Buzzards Bay, MA

 

Apple Scab Fungicide Resistance Survey 2010

This, from Kerik Cox at Cornell. To the best of my knowledge, it is open to non-NY growers too. JC

Scab is show up all over NY and surrounding states and we’re already testing orchards. If you want to participate in the 2010 apple scab fungicide resistant survey, please prepare to make a sample submission. Go here: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/extension/tfabp/smor.htm

Fresh young scab lesions on cluster leaves are suitable, but fresh terminal leaf scab (coming later) is even better. If you want to send cluster leaf scab in the near future and terminal leaf scab later, that’s fine with us. There are a lot of potential sources of attrition with this test, and it doesn’t hurt to have an extra set of leaves to fall back on in case the first ones fail. We have only a limited number of slots open for testing in 2010, so be the first to get your scab samples in.

When you are ready to submit, go to our website (http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/extension/tfabp/smor.htm) and download the instructions and sample submission form. If you don’t have the Internet access, contact a local Cornell cooperative extension support specialist, and have them provide you with a copy of the instructions and submission form.

Useful links

UMass Fruit Advisor http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/

UMass Cold Spring Orchard Weather Data http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/hrcweather/index.html

Scaffolds Fruit Journal http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scafolds/

NEWA (Network for Environmental and Weather Applications)

Orchard Radar for Belchertown, MA http://pronewengland.org/AllModels/MAmodel/RADARMA-Belchertown.htm

JMCEXTMAN Blog http://jmcextman.blogspot.com/

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/jmcextman and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/jmcextman


The next Healthy Fruit will be published June 29 or thereabout, 2010. As always, feel free to get in touch with any member of the UMass Fruit Team if you have questions or comments.