David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist; Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology; Christina Howard, Maine New Farmer Project Manager Spotted wing drosophila fruit flies are now being caught in traps we have set up in strawberry and raspberry fields in southern Maine (see table below) and wild blueberry […]
Read more
RENOVATION AND WEED MANAGEMENT ISSUE Get Your Strawberry Beds Ready for Next Year and Manage Pests in Day-Neutral Strawberries The strawberry harvest is coming to a close in most parts of the state, as very warm weather has hastened the ripening of later varieties. The season started early for most farms, and hot weather caused […]
Read more
SWEET CORN PESTS ACTIVE! Early Silking Corn Needs Protection SITUATION Warm weather has pushed corn development rapidly across the state. Early plantings are now in silk in many locations. All of the major corn pests are active, but populations are variable from location to location. Corn earworm, fall armyworm and European corn borer have all […]
Read more
Southern Maine Garlic Ready to Harvest Soon Garlic throughout southern and midcoast Maine will be ready to harvest within the next few weeks. Other New England states are reporting slightly earlier garlic harvests than usual due to environmental conditions. The best way to know garlic is ready to harvest is to dig up several bulbs […]
Read more
In this newsletter: Sweet Cherry Harvest Soil Moisture Measurements at Highmoor Leaf Sampling Time Time to Order Custom-Budded Trees Summer Tour Agenda Sweet Cherry Harvest Sweet cherry harvest is underway at Highmoor Farm, but with abundant brown rot despite the lack of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in our traps. Sweet cherries usually have red flesh […]
Read more
2025 SWEET CORN PEST SEASON BEGINS! Insect Pests Active in Early Corn The 2025 University of Maine Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for sweet corn is getting underway. We have set up pheromone traps at volunteer farms to monitor the adult (moth) stages of European corn borer, corn earworm and fall armyworm, and […]
Read more
In this newsletter: SWD in cherry Preharvest intervals for cherry Fireblight spotted in Gala Summer tour agenda Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in Cherry Cherries will become susceptible to SWD once about 20% of fruit begin to blush. Sweet cherries have reached this stage. Sour cherries are still green. Adult SWD flies will puncture the skin […]
Read more
Thrips Thrip Pressure Still Low Onion thrips counts remain low despite dry, hot days and no scouting locations have yet reached the 1 thrips/leaf threshold. Warm temperatures drive development and the speed at which new generations arise. Nearly all Maine locations have accumulated enough growing degree days (140 GDD52.7ºF) for the overwintering generation to emerge. […]
Read more
Irrigation Garlic, like many crop plants, needs about an inch of water per week. Even though the forecast has called for a good number of rainy days in the last few weeks, showers have been very scattered and some areas haven’t actually accumulated much rainfall. Portland, for instance, has only gotten about 1″ since June […]
Read more
STRAWBERRY HARVEST STARTS IN SOUTHERN MAINE Be On the Lookout for Fruit Rots, Sap Beetles and Spotted Wing Drosophila Situation: Strawberry harvest is getting started in southern Maine, although the picking is light and mostly for stand sales at this point. A few warm sunny days are needed to push the ripening along and get […]
Read more