Fruit:
Growing degree days (GDD) are being monitored after setting biofix dates for the codling moth and oriental fruit moth in southern Wayne County locations the previous week. Based on those accumulated GDD, apple growers who want to use Intrepid or Confirm as a control option for codling moth were being advised to spray anytime Tuesday through Saturday May 23. Those growers who want to use the chemical options in the 150—250 GDD category (Calypso, Altacor, Assail,Belay, Delegate) could begin spraying Saturday May 23and continue into the following week. In peaches, based on accumulated GDD, growers were advised to make treatment sprays for control of first generation oriental fruit moths beginning Monday May 18 through Thursday May 21. Both codling moth and oriental fruit moth numbers jumped in northern Wayne County orchards and so a biofix date of May 18 is set for those pests in northern Wayne County and GDD will be tracked from that point. Most apple trees are at the fruit development stage of growth while most peaches are at shuck split. Scouts are noting some plum curculio beetles in some orchards. With regard to small fruit, strawberries and raspberries are setting fruit, blueberries for the most part are in full bloom and some grapes are starting to bloom. Scouts are noting slug feeding on strawberry leaves anywhere with up to 20% leaf damage. Flea beetles are also present in some strawberry fields and causing some small amount of leaf feeding damage. Strawberry leaf spot is noted in some fields. In raspberries cane blight has been noted on scout reports and orange rust is now active. (See photo below) In blueberries, scouts have noted some phomopsis twig blight on some bushes in some fields.
Vegetables:
Overall vegetable crops look good and are progressing in development. Just this week thrips have begun to show up on garlic and onions at light levels. Flea beetles continue to be noted at mostly light levels on a variety of vegetable crops including onions, cole crops, potatoes and sweet corn. Slugs are another pest that is noted by scouts on cole crops, melons, and sweet corn. Black cut worm damage in sweet corn was noted in some plantings at 2-7% damage. Sweet corn development ranges from emergence in some plantings up to the V-5 stage in others. This was the first week that scouts found cucumber beetles, noting very low numbers in some plantings of zucchini and summer squash. Another first this week was the presence of Colorado potato beetle adults at low numbers on potato plants. (See photo below) The bean leaf beetle also made an appearance in scout notes this week, again in low numbers, on a planting of green snap beans. Scouts also wrote about finding ground hog damage in some of their grower reports. (See photo below) From a disease perspective, most crops look good with no big outbreaks of any disease yet detected by scouts. There have been some plant samples submitted to Sally Miller’s diagnostic lab as a result of scouts seeing small numbers of plants in some high tunnels that don’t appear normal, but these samples represent only a small fraction of the total plants that scouts look at. At this point we are still waiting for a diagnostic report.
Agronomic Field Crops:
Most field corn is in the V-1 to V-3 stage of development. Stands look uniform. Scouts are noting both leaf feeding and some plant cutting by black cutworms. (See bottom photos) Leaf feeding has ranged form 1% to 15% and cut plants from 1 to 3% in some fields. Slugs are still active and feeding on leaves but at levels below an economic threshold. In some fields scouts did note damage due to turkeys and deer. Soybeans are emerging and at this point scouts did not note or detect any insect feeding damage or other concerns. Much of the alfalfa in the county has been harvested or is being cut for harvest. Scouts did note the presence of cressleaf groundsel in some new alfalfa seedings.
Photo’s By Chris Smedley, IPM program scout
Orange rust on brambles and Colorado potato beetle adult feeding on young potato plant
Early season groundhog damage and Tomatoes growing in high tunnel
Corn plant cut by black cutworm larva
