Apple Pest Report:
Monday,
September 15, 2003
Vol. 11 No. 13
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INSECT PESTS
If White apple leafhopper are numerous enough to irritate pickers, carbaryl (Sevin) has the shortest preharvest interval among insecticides rated for good efficacy against leafhoppers.Leafminer- Grad Student seeks leafminer leaves If $30 for a 300 leafmined leaves sounds like a good deal to you, then put the leaves in a cardboard box or padded envelop and send it to the address below. Include your name and address to receive a check for $30. The address is: Candace Low Blandy Experimental Farm University of Virginia 400 Blandy Farm Lane Boyce, VA 22620
Dimethoate (Digon) to lose apple registrations The companies that manufacture dimethoate have filed with EPA to remove apples from product labels. This change is part of the dietary and environmental exposure limits for organophosphate insecticides being implemented under the Food Quality Protection Act.
Take note! A simple notebook record of what and where you notice pest damage during harvest can provide useful guidance in evaluating your pest management program this winter and planning for next year. It doesn't have to be fancy. Just getting your observations, thoughts, and ideas on paper helps you remember accurately, and gives you a 'place to go' to review what worked, what didn't, and how to improve results and minimize costs for next year.
SCAB Granted, it needs to be done at a time of year when you have plenty of other more immediate things to deal with, but mid-September until early October is the best time to do an end-of-season scab inspection. It will cost you about 25 minutes per block (up to 10 acres). The payoff is that it will give you a much better basis for making scab management decisions next spring. Details on how to do the inspection are described on pages 13-16 of the 2003-2004 New England Apple Pest Management Guide. (There is a typo on page 16, the reference to the "next page" means the chart on page 14.) There are pictures of what you are looking for on pages 57-59. Here is a simplified procedure that will keep your sampling time to a minimum: 1. Check 100 shoots per block for scab. For large trees (over 10 feet tall), make this 10 shoots per tree on 10 trees. For small trees, check 5 shoots per tree on 20 trees per block. Select the trees from across the block. If there are any areas of the block where scab risk is higher, be sure to include trees from that area. 2. For each shoot, quickly scan the top and bottom surfaces of about 15 leaves. To do this efficiently, do it in one glance like taking a snapshot photograph with your eyes. If you try to examine each leaf individually you will lose patience and never finish. 3. Pull off any leaf that appears to have a scab lesion and put it in your shirt pocket. See the pictures on pages 57-59 for examples. 4. If you collect more than 18 leaves, you can stop without bothering to finish checking the rest of the 100 shoots. Next spring, you should begin scab protection at Green Tip. 5. Otherwise, after you have inspected 100 shoots, stop and examine the leaves you collected. Count the ones that have a reasonable suspicion of having scab lesions. If you collected 5 or fewer leaves with scab lesions, this indicates that the level of scab inoculum in this block will be low enough next spring to allow a Delayed First Spray Strategy as described in the New England Apple Pest Management Guide. 6. If the number of leaves is between 5 and 18, you can expand the sample to 200 shoots, or you can just leave it as an "in between" assessment. In almost all cases, a 200 shoot sample will settle the issue of whether the number of scabbed leaves is above or below the threshold for a Delayed First Spray Strategy. The lower and upper thresholds for a 200 shoot sample are 12 and 24 scabbed leaves, respectively. 7. Even if you have no intention of using a Delayed First Spray Strategy next spring, the fall scab inspection is worth your time. It tells you which blocks have high scab, which are very clean, and which are in between. You cannot determine this by looking at the level of fruit scab. Having a measurement of the scab inoculum level is useful making those judgment calls next spring when you are debating how long you can safely go between fungicide applications. It can also show you where the scab level is low enough that flail mowing this fall or early next spring can bring the scab inoculum down to the level that allows fungicide and spray trip savings next spring. At the other end of the spectrum, it reveals which blocks have a lot more foliar scab this fall then you would have realized without doing an intentional inspection. Knowing ahead of time which blocks need special attention to protect against primary scab infection periods next spring can save a lot of money and work compared to playing catch up to bring a scab outbreak under control.
Flyspeck and Sooty blotch
Leaf wetness hour accumulation fell off after the soggy start to August, so the risk of flyspeck colonies appearing before harvest this fall should be about normal. Getting fruit dry and cooled as sooner as possible after harvest helps reduce the chance of flyspeck, and is also important for preserving fruit quality and reducing scab risk.
Processor seeks organic apples Eden foods is looking for Maine apple growers able to supply organic apples for processing for the future. If you are interested, the contact is: Matt Bradley
excerpted from a fuller
article available from: "The crop insurance deadline sales closing date is November 20, 2003. The production report due date is January 4, 2004, and the acreage report due date is January 31, 2004 for the 2004 crop season. The 2003 apple crop insurance insures any variety of apples adapted to the area and located on insurable acreage that has already produced at least 150 bushels per acre. An orchard inspection may be required before coverage begins. The counties covered are Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset, Waldo and York. Other counties may be insurable if specific criteria are met. Any questions pertaining to other counties should be addressed to a crop insurance agent. Apple losses are covered for the following causes:
The policy does not cover market fluctuations, mechanical damage (including limb rubs, scars, etc.) russetting, or failure of fruit to size, shape or color properly. The coverage levels range from 50 to 75 percent of the farmers average yield. Catastrophic (CAT) Coverage is fixed at 50 of the average yield and 55% of the price election. The total cost for CAT coverage is an administrative fee of $100, regardless of the acreage. For buy-up coverage, an amount of coverage over the minimum CAT coverage, the crop insurance is subsidized by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation indicated in the following table:
The insurance period coverage begins on November 21 the first year and on November 6 in subsequent years. Coverage ends at the earliest of: total destruction of crop, harvest of the crop, final adjustment of a claim, abandonment of the crop, or November 5, 2004. Additionally, apple
quality insurance is available for an additional premium. These options
provide protection against a deterioration in fruit quality due to hail.
Option B provides
coverage against hail damage to fresh fruit apples not grading U.S.
Fancy. The apple crop insurance program is being reviewed and is expected to be in the rule making process shortly. However, it is unclear whether it will be accomplished prior to the 2004 growing season deadline of November 20, 2003. Growers should make plans on the existing crop insurance available with the possibility the changes may be forthcoming just prior to the dealing date. Let’s all hope that the federal rulemaking authorities give us all enough time to make good risk management decisions!"
Great Maine Apple Day is Saturday, November 8 at Highmoor Farm. The place to be for apple lovers! Contact Renae Moran at 933-2100 for details.
Best wishes for a happy, safe, and profitable harvest!
Sincerely, Published and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914, by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, the Land Grant University of the state of Maine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperating. Cooperative Extension and other agencies of the USDA provide equal opportunities in programs and employment. A member of the University of Maine System. Where company or brand names are used, it is for the reader=s information. No endorsement is implied nor is any discrimination intended. Always consult product labels for rates, application instructions and safety precautions. Users of these products assume all associated risks. If you are a person with a disability and will need any accommodations to participate in programs, please call the Highmoor Farm at 1-800-924-5258 to discuss your needs. Please contact us at least one day prior to the event to assure fullest possible attention to your needs.
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