Entomology Update with Monique Rivera

This is a summary of the new Scaffolds Podcast, as featured on the CE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program blog. Click here to listen to the podcast.

Well, folks, it looks like we're off to a weird start to the season with a week of summer weather and now in western New York, cooler and wetter conditions. Maybe a weird start is more like a stumbling start because it will warm up again for a day or two in western New York, and then go right back to cool and wet. But either way, we are collectively heading towards Pink, and there are, as always, some insects to consider and think about treatments for. 

If San Jose scale is a concern, it's not too late to include a treatment for this. There are still options until foliar development progresses to the point where coverage will decline. So the real aim of this treatment is to make contact with the woody parts of the tree and hopefully make contact with any eggs or immatures that are there. So if you're focused on getting an oil applied for this, there's still time for a 1% oil spray through tight cluster again to cover those woody surfaces. If you think you will need more control, there are other insecticidal options to add. In particular, I would consider Centaur or Esteem, both of which are insect growth regulators. 

So last week I spoke about the idea of bulletproofing IPM programs, and I think a good thought experiment about that would be to think about what your management program would look like if Organophosphates and Pyrethroids, for example, were eliminated. The idea of this is kind of ridiculous because organic management can use Pyrethrins, which are the direct plant extract, but in all honesty, at higher levels this is being considered.

And it's something that along our journey here on Scaffolds, I probably will continue to mention, because if we don't think about it now, I really think that it will sneak up on the industry as things start to be considered for elimination. And so it would be good to start to think about again what your program would look like if you could not use whole classes or mode of actions of insecticides. It would be really helpful to your future programs to start considering that. Not that I know that this is coming down the pike in New York State, but I do know that in California, before I left, I was asked to review the use of pyrethroids, which is the beginning of that consideration. 

Sprayer Maintenance and Setup Reminders

By Dan Donahue, CCE-ENYCHP, Hudson Valley

Poorly maintained sprayers are a risk to the operator, the environment, and your checkbook. Protect yourself from potential contamination as you work on the sprayer. As we approach the start of the spray season, give each of your spray rigs a complete review, test, and calibration.

Items to check include:

·    Tank integrity

·    Condition of hoses, clamps, and belts

·    Condition of tires

·    Condition of the bearings, u-joints, CV joints and coupler in the PTO driveline.

·    Is the pressure gage working?

·    Are there any leaks?

·    Is the agitation system working properly?

·    Is the pump operating at its design pressure?

·    Non-Viton pump seals or rollers (or equivalent) will require more frequent attention and replacement as they are less durable.

·    Nozzles wear with use and are considered replacement items. Ceramic nozzles are the most durable, traditional brass nozzle wears much more quickly.

·    Airblast sprayers are generally set up to apply 2/3 of the spray volume into the to half of the tree canopy.

Check your calibration. Many ways to do it. One easy way it to spray out a full tank of water on a measured orchard. 500 gallon tank at 100 gallons per acre will cover 5 acres. In this example, if your target rate was 2 lbs./A, but you cover 6 acres instead of 5, your actual rate is 1.67 lbs./A. No surprise if the pesticide does not work as expected. On the other hand, if covering 4 acres on a 5 acre tank increases your effective application rate from 2 lbs./A up to 2.5 lbs./A which may be off-label and increases your pesticide cost by 20%/A.

Consider slowing down: Excellent coverage is essential to good pesticide performance. Mite, Scale, and Oil applications require extra-thorough coverage, high water rates and reduced tractor speeds.

Alternate Row-Middle Spraying: When choosing to drive down every-other row middle, be certain that your sprayer is calibrated to apply the correct rate/A. If your sprayer is set up for every row-middle, but you drive every-other row middle, you will reduce the application rate/A. by half. If alternate row-middle spraying is your standard program, be sure to “alternate” the actual row-middles travelled with each application to ensure even coverage over time. Use a paint color scheme on the trellis anchor posts to denote which row middles are in the “A-Group”. Instruct your sprayer operators to drive the “A-Group” middles for one application, and then the alternative or “B-Group” middles for the next application, helping to minimize operator disorientation in the orchard.

Visit our airblast calibration article on the Produce pages.

Cornell’s Juliet Carroll Earns Excellence in IPM Award

Dr. Juliet Carroll, Fruit IPM Coordinator at Cornell University, earned the Excellence in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Award from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYSIPM) at the Viticulture day of the B.E.V. (Business, Enology, Viticulture) conference in Rochester. The award honors individuals who encourage the adoption of IPM in their businesses, schools, communities, and farms, and who develop new tools and tactics for sharing these practices.

Dr. Carroll spearheaded the expansion of NEWA, a website and network that allows growers to understand how the weather will affect fungal and insect pests, and takes the guesswork out of their pest-management strategy. Carroll ran NEWA for over a decade. Under her leadership, NEWA went from 45 weather stations in New York State to over 500 in 12 states. Her work, along with Wayne Wilcox and Greg Loeb, on improving the user experience with the grape disease and grape berry moth models on NEWA, had an enormous impact on the implementation of grape IPM in New York.

Dr. Carroll also led the development of Trac software. Introduced in the early 2000s, the software simplified and digitized pesticide recordkeeping for large and small growers and processors alike. It allows farmers to input the information once, and generate customized reports for different processors. The software also includes reference to “IPM Elements” for grapes and other crops—a tool that helps growers assess their pest management practices.

Dr. Carroll built Trac software for five fruit crops, and partnered with a colleague to create TracTurfgrass for golf, lawns, sports fields and sod farms. Luke Haggerty, grower relations representative for Constellation Brands, calls Carroll’s TracGrape software “a true breakthrough” in recordkeeping. Of her work with NEWA, Haggerty says, “Julie has always been very proactive in developing and delivering the products needed for our growers to produce grapes in an environmentally and economically sustainable way.”

Tim Martinson, Cornell Cooperative Extension Viticulture specialist, noted, “IPM is built on information and decision-making tools. Juliet has built TracGrape and NEWA into useful, practical tools for growers.”

Dr. Carroll also co-edited organic production and IPM guides for grapes and several berry crops, and has regularly presented at Lake Erie Regional Grape Growers’ conferences and Coffee Pot meetings. She has conducted research on devastating pests, such as spotted wing drosophila (SWD), investigating whether hungry hummingbirds can provide meaningful control.

In addition, Dr. Carroll has chaired the Northeast IPM SWD working groups for the past decade, bringing research scientists, growers, industry reps, and extension educators from across the region together to help find solutions. Carroll has also helped fruit growers with bird management.

Learn more about integrated pest management at nysipm.cornell.edu.