It’s been a tricky season for thinning after the May 18th freeze and now with the prolonged cold, rainy weather. For those of us who had very little freeze damage and excessive fruit set, the temperature has been too hot or too cold. Cold temperatures make thinners less effective, and hot weather makes them over-effective […]
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SPIDER MITE POPULATIONS HIGHER IN SOME FIELDS Tarnished Plant Bug and Clippers Still at Very Low Levels Situation: Insect pests remain at very low levels this week, but high mite populations have become more widespread around the state. Foliar diseases also remain at low levels, but this may change with anticipated wetter weather late this […]
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Now that fruitlets are starting to show signs of fruit set and growth, decisions about whether or not to apply a thinner can be made if sufficient flowers survived the May 18th freeze. Highmoor Farm has a few orchards that had less than 20% damage, so fruit set looks heavy. In these orchards that seem to need […]
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TWO SPOTTED SPIDER MITES REACH DAMAGING LEVELS Very Low Numbers of Tarnished Plant Bug and Clippers Situation: While visiting strawberry fields around the state this week, I was impressed with how well growers had protected strawberry flowers from the hard frost event last week. Most of the damage I saw was actually from an unexpected […]
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CHALLENGING FROST SEASON THREATENS CROP Insect Pest Situation Very Quiet, Disease Pressure Increasing With Irrigation Events Situation: A frost event this week hit many strawberry fields just as they were coming into bloom, which is the stage at which they are most sensitive to cold temperatures. Fortunately, there was plenty of warning about the event, […]
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Frost Protection Tips For Strawberries A significant frost/freeze event is being predicted for Wednesday night-Thursday morning. This has the potential to injure and kill susceptible strawberry flowers and buds that are now present in most strawberry fields. Growers should be ready to protect their plants with irrigation and/or row covers. Check your pump, pipes and sprinkler heads to be […]
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2023 STRAWBERRY PEST MANAGEMENT SEASON BEGINS Vegetable and Berry Growers Twilight Meeting at Stevenson’s Farm, Wayne, June 6, 5:30 p.m. Situation: Strawberry development this spring started off near normal, but recent hot weather has pushed blossom and emergence slightly ahead of normal. Fortunately, most fields were still under mulch when we had a warm spell […]
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David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist, Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology, Christina Howard, New Farmers Program Manager This will be the last planned issue of the Spotted Wing Drosophila Alert for the 2022 season. We like to thank all of the farms that volunteered to be […]
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David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist, Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology, Christina Howard, New Farmers Program Manager Spotted wing drosophila fly counts have again dropped at nearly all sites this week. One site in Limington is now below the spray threshold of six flies per trap per […]
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David Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist; James Dill, Pest Management Specialist, Phil Fanning, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology, Christina Howard, New Farmers Program Manager Spotted wing drosophila fly counts have dropped at all sites this week, but the numbers are still high enough to pose a threat to any late ripening fruit. In past […]
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