Apple Pest Report:  Thursday, September 15, 2005
Vol. 13 No. 11

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AppPestRept-2005-09-15.htm

 Flyspeck 

    Updated flyspeck risk estimates for Sanford, Gorham, Monmouth, and Old Town are available online at http://pronewengland.org/Content/PROInfoDecisionModels.htm

    Leafhopper populations have exploded in at least two Maine orchards.  wAt one site destined for wholesale storage, the best solution seemed to be a reduced rate of Sevin (carbaryl) in order to knock down the number of leafhoppers and reduce picker nuisance with only a three day preharvest interval.  The reduced rate should be adequate to substantially reduce the number of leafhopper adults, while minimizing application cost.  At a pick your own application, the best solution may be Pygranic or another pyrethrin application with zero days to harvest.  While much more expensive than Sevin, the zero days to harvest allows the orchard to open for pick your own customers this weekend.  An alternative would be to not treat for leafhoppers for this weekend, hoping that customers will not be too bothered.  Then Sevin could be applied late Sunday or Monday, making the three day preharvest interval conclude before next weekend.  Also, waiting until Monday allows seeing what heavy rain on Saturday might do to the leafhopper population.

    Apple maggot trap captures at the Highmoor Farm research plot continue to be low.

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    Starch index values provided by Patti McManus, University of Maine Highmoor Farm Agricultural Experiment Station.

Note: SI values can progress differently than ethylene production. Fruit firmness and other indicators should also be used to monitor fruit maturity and to identify optimum harvest date.

    The estimated date for 10% drop of sound McIntosh fruit at Highmoor Farm is September 25 - September 30.
   

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New satellite to improve weather forecast accuracy
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050825_weather_forecast.html

Sincerely,                                            
Glen

Weather forecasts

  Current weather Observations

     Maine climate data

Introduction to Orchard Radar pest forecasts