STRAWBERRY BLOOM BEGINS IN SOUTHERN MAINE No Insect Problems Yet, Spider Mites Found Everywhere; Bloom Sprays Should Target Gray Mold Situation: Early strawberries under rowcovers have just started to bloom in the southern part of the state. Overall, fields look good, some slightly ahead of average development for this time. As expected, there is evidence […]
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Disease Forecasting Cool, wet weather this week has slowed down GDD accumulations for insect pests and instead favored the development of fungal diseases. Three major fungal pathogens of garlic are combined into one onion diseases tool on NEWA, which is helpful because controls for all three are similar. This issue will break down how to […]
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In this newsletter: Bud stages at Highmoor Farm Brown Rot Blossom Blight of Stone Fruit Prohexadione and aggravation of bitter pit in Honeycrisp Thinning Peaches with Acceede SG® Flower Bud Development Flower bud development has been, thankfully, slow this spring. Honeycrisp apples are still at half-inch green. McIntosh and Gala are just starting tight cluster. […]
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Disease Forecast Alert: Conditions in Bangor, Lewiston, and Milton, NH may be favorable for onion downy mildew and Botrytis leaf blast development in coming days. See NEWA onion diseases for details – more on these in a future newsletter. Onion Maggot Onion maggot (Delia antiqua) can be a serious pest of allium crops. Overwintered pupae […]
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Bud development has progressed from silver tip to green tip and is probably beyond green tip in southern Maine. This is the traditional time to begin fungicide sprays to prevent apple scab in McIntosh and other highly susceptible varieties. It’s also the time for the copper spray which functions as a micronutrient fertilizer, fungicide and […]
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Managing Garlic Fertility Garlic is a moderate to heavy feeder, and careful nutrient management will aid plant development while mitigating the risk of foliar infections. The first step in any fertility program is testing your soil before planting. You can find more information about soil tests and their interpretation in this bulletin. The table below, […]
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Garlic Season Begins Garlic in southern and midcoast Maine is emerging and it is time to prepare for managing pests in your crop. Here are the basics: Anticipate potential problems by considering the pests or diseases you encountered in previous years. Most garlic diseases persist, and several insect pests overwinter, in soil and crop residues. […]
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2025 STRAWBERRY PEST MANAGEMENT SEASON BEGINS Vegetable and Berry Growers Twilight Meeting at Belanger’s Farm, Lewiston, June 5, 5:30 p.m. Situation: March was slightly warmer than average this spring, but April has been very cool and damp, keeping strawberry plants dormant in matted row plantings under straw mulch. It is now time to uncover the […]
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In this newsletter: Pruning Tips for Cherry Trees Bud Stages and Bud Survival Guest Articles from Cornell Cooperative Extension Pruning Tips for Cherry Trees Cherry trees are usually trained as a multiple leader tree like peach and plum with about 4 leaders per tree. Fully dwarfed sweet cherry trees can be trained as a central […]
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In this newsletter: Bud development stages Fruit Notes Spring Issue Upcoming Classes on Marketing Apple Bud Development Last week, I noted some bud swell in Honeycrisp and Macoun apples. No sign of bud swell has been seen in peaches. Fruit Notes Spring 2025 Issue The spring issue is available at this website: UMass Amherst […]
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