Upcoming Pest Events | Phenologies | Trap Catches | Pest Focus | Insects

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Upcoming Pest Events | Phenologies | Trap Catches | Pest Focus | Insects

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Upcoming Pest Events | Phenologies | Trap Catches | Pest Focus | Insects

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Upcoming Pest Events | Phenologies | Trap Catches | Pest Focus | Insects

Geneva: 
1st American Plum Borer trap catch, 5/23.

Highland:
1st Codling Moth trap catch, 5/20.
Oriental Fruit Moth degree days (base 45 F) since biofix = 118.4
San Jose Scale model degree days (base 50 F) since March 1 = 302.8

Appleton, Niagara Co.:
1st Codling Moth trap catch, 5/18.

Lafayette, Onondaga Co.:
1st Lesser Appleworm trap catch, 5/17.

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Upcoming Pest Events | Phenologies | Trap Catches | Pest Focus | Insects

Geneva Predictions:
Roundheaded Appletree Borer
RAB adult emergence begins: June 3; Peak emergence: June 16.
RAB egglaying begins: June 11. Peak egglaying period roughly: July 1 to July 15.

Codling Moth
Codling moth development as of May 31: 1st generation adult emergence at 7% and 1st generation egg hatch at 0%.
Key codling moth management dates: 1st generation 3% CM egg hatch: June 12 (= target date for first spray where multiple sprays needed to control 1st generation CM).

Lesser Appleworm
1st LAW flight peak trap catch: May 27.

Mullein Plant Bug
The most accurate time for limb tapping counts, but possibly after MPB damage has occurred, is when 90% of eggs have hatched.
90% egg hatch date: May 29.

Obliquebanded Leafroller
1st generation OBLR flight, first trap catch expected: June 14.

Oriental Fruit Moth
Optimum 1st generation first treatment date, if needed: May 26.
Optimum 1st generation second treatment date, if needed: June 6.

San Jose Scale
First adult SJS caught on trap: May 23.

Spotted Tentiform Leafminer
1st generation sapfeeding mines start showing: May 28.
Optimum sample date is around May 29, when a larger portion of the mines have become detectable.

Highland Predictions:
Roundheaded Appletree Borer
RAB adult emergence begins: June 1; Peak emergence: June 13.
RAB egglaying begins: June 8. Peak egglaying period roughly: June 27 to July 11.

Codling Moth
Codling moth development as of May 31: 1st generation adult emergence at 24% and 1st generation egg hatch at 0%.
Key codling moth management dates: 1st generation 3% CM egg hatch: June 7 (= target date for first spray where multiple sprays needed to control 1st generation CM).

Mullein Plant Bug
The most accurate time for limb tapping counts, but possibly after MPB damage has occurred, is when 90% of eggs have hatched.
90% egg hatch date: May 27.

Obliquebanded Leafroller
1st generation OBLR flight, first trap catch expected: June 10.

Oriental Fruit Moth
Optimum 1st generation second treatment date, if needed: June 2.

San Jose Scale
1st generation SJS crawlers appear: June 19.

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NY apple growers have experienced difficulty in controlling internal Lepidoptera, primarily oriental fruit moth (OFM) since the 2001 growing season. In 2003, most apple growers in western NY who had experienced unacceptable damage in the past began to intensify chemical control programs for control of internal leps and, consequently, fewer loads were rejected, and from a smaller number of growers than the previous year. Even though western NY apple growers achieved temporary success in reducing internal lep damage in 2003, many applied frequent sprays and used materials such as synthetic pyrethroids that are incompatible with IPM programs. Although such intensive control programs may be necessary to achieve acceptable control in orchards with high levels of internal Lepidoptera infestation, more cost-effective, IPM-compatible management programs for this pest complex need to be developed in the future. Studies were conducted in 2004 to evaluate multi-tactic management programs integrating mating disruption and improved timing of IPM-compatible insecticides in large-scale plots in grower orchards.

Three management systems were compared in 10 commercial orchards in western NY. Plots were set up in both "high risk" orchards that had experienced severe damage from OFM in the past and in "low risk" blocks without a history of previous infestation. All research plots were 5-10A, and growers applied their own sprays. Two pheromone traps for OFM, codling moth (CM), and lesser appleworm (LAW) were placed in the center of each plot (4 OFM traps were deployed in the mating disruption plots) and checked weekly. Fruit was sampled on July 19, after the end of the activity of the first brood of OFM, and on 2 and 17 August (1000 apples/plot, 20 apples on each of 50 trees).

Chemical Control Treatment
One special OFM spray was timed at the estimated first hatch of OFM eggs for each of the three generations. A pink spray was applied to control egg hatch of the first generation, although subsequent trap catch patterns showed that this flight did not start until bloom. Originally, the Pennsylvania OFM DD model (base temp 45 F) was to be used to time sprays for first hatch of the other generations, but initial, early season observations showed that the model predictions were not accurate. Therefore, sprays for the second and third broods were recommended after the accumulation of 175-200 DD after biofix in pheromone traps. Sprays were recommended during the third week of July to coincide with egg hatch of the second brood, and during the last week in August for control of the third brood. Growers were advised to apply normal control sprays against other insect pests when needed throughout the season.

Seasonal Mating Disruption Treatment
Isomate M-Rosso ties (200/A) were deployed in April prior to the first OFM flight. Growers were advised not to apply special control sprays for OFM unless damaged fruit was observed during the July and August fruit samples, or moths were captured in the pheromone monitoring traps deployed in the blocks. Growers were advised to apply normal control sprays against other insect pests when needed throughout the season.

Monitoring Treatment
A prophylactic control spray was applied at pink to coincide with the initially predicted OFM egg hatch of the first generation. No other special OFM sprays were recommended unless moth catches averaged more than 10/trap/week or fruit damage was found in monitoring bouts during late July and August. Growers were advised to apply control sprays against other insects when needed.

Growers participating in the project used a wide variety of insecticides, including Lorsban at the pink bud stage, Imidan, Guthion, Danitol, Warrior, Avaunt, and Intrepid. Damage in each plot was compared at harvest during the first week of October. One thousand apples were evaluated from each plot, and samples were stratified by examining 100 apples (20/tree) along each of the edges and 400 (100/tree) in the center of each plot.

RESULTS
OFM Seasonal Pheonolgy
The development of OFM was later than normal, probably because of generally cool, wet conditions throughout the summer. The initial flight began during early bloom on May 13, and peak flight of the first generation was observed during the week of May 18-25. The second flight began on July 13 and peaked around July 26. The third flight did not start until the last week in August, and continued during September and October.

OFM Monitoring Treatments
OFM catches never exceeded recommended treatment threshold levels throughout the season in 4 of the research orchards. Trap catches exceeding thresholds were most common during the first flight of OFM (5 orchards), and only 2 and 10 of the monitoring plots exceeded the threshold levels, respectively, during the second and third flights.

Seasonal OFM Mating Disruption
The Rosso pheromone ties completely shut down OFM trap catches throughout the season, although codling moth catches were high in two of the orchards in the disrupted plots. A trace of fruit damage was observed in one of the disrupted plots (0.1%), but since codling moth catches were high in that block, this summer fruit damage was attributed to that species. In one of the "high risk" blocks, a low percentage of fruit damage was observed during summer sampling, and chemical sprays were recommended. No fruit damage at harvest was observed in the other mating disruption plots.

Summer Fruit Monitoring in Different Research Treatments
No damaged fruit was observed in any treatments in 8 out of the 10 research orchards in fruit sampled during July and August. Damage was observed in all treatments during each sampling bout in one of the "high risk" orchards (Table 1). A trace of damage (0.1%) was observed in treatments in one of the "low risk" orchards, but since codling moth catches were high in this orchard, this damage was attributed to this species.

Harvest Fruit Damage
The percentages of damaged fruit observed at harvest in all of the treatments in all orchards was not significantly different among treatments and was very low (0.2-0.3%). The previously noted "high risk" orchard was the only site in which consistent levels of fruit damage were detected at harvest, and overall damage in this orchard was similar among the different treatments (Table 2). Damage in the mating disruption treatment was higher in fruit sampled from the edges of the plot than in the middle, which suggests gravid females may have immigrated into the edges of this relatively small plot from sources outside of the orchard.

The  Pennsylvania DD model did not accurately predict seasonal development of OFM in these western NY apple orchards during the 2004 growing season, possibly because the spring and summer were unusually cool and wet.  For example, the last flight started considerably earlier than predicted by this model.  Because of the abnormalities of the season, it was difficult to determine when to time sprays for OFM in the proposed 3-spray Chemical Control program.  For example, the hatch of eggs from the first brood of OFM was originally predicted during bloom, and consequently, the first spray for this brood was recommended at the pink bud stage.  However, since pheromone trap catches showed that the first flight did not start until bloom, petal fall would have been a better timing.  The spray applied against the second brood based on estimated hatch predicted at 175-200 DD after the pheromone trap biofix, which was recommended during the third week in July, appeared to be timed correctly according to seasonal patterns of flight.  However, the third flight did not start until the last week in August, and we estimated that the first hatch of third brood eggs would not occur until about the middle of September.  Therefore, we advised growers to apply their last spray for OFM during the last week in August just before the Labor Day holiday in September.  The flight of this last generation continued during September and October.  However, based on comparisons of damage in the plots during late August and at harvest in October, it did not appear that fruit damage increased in most of the plots as a result of this late third brood activity.

The trap catches were highly variable in the monitoring plots set up in the research orchards and generally correlated with estimated risk.  These initial results suggested that trap catch thresholds can be used in commercial orchards to determine when and if sprays for OFM are necessary, although additional work may have to be done to more thoroughly test this concept.

Mating disruption was very effective in preventing OFM damage except in one "high risk" orchard, and observed patterns of damage suggested that injury in this block may have been due to immigration from outside sources into this relatively small plot.  Therefore, it appears that mating disruption can eliminate the need for special chemical control sprays against OFM except in extremely "high risk" orchards.

Monitoring fruit on trees during the season can accurately detect low levels of fruit damage in time to apply appropriate control sprays.  However, this technology may not be practical for growers or consultants because it requires about 30 minutes to sample 1000 apples in a single orchard block for internal Lepidoptera damage.  This technique is being refined this season to require less time to monitor fruit during the summer, by reducing numbers of apples sampled and optimizing sampling sessions so that unacceptable infestations will be detected more quickly.

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Scaffolds is published weekly from March to September by Cornell University -- NYS Agricultural Experiment Station (Geneva), and Ithaca -- with the assistance of Cornell Cooperative Extension. New York field reports welcomed. Send submissions by 3 p.m. Monday to:

Scaffolds Fruit Journal
Editors: A. Agnello, D. Kain
Dept. of Entomology, NYSAES
P.O. Box 462
Geneva, NY 14456-0462
Phone: 315-787-2341 FAX: 315-787-2326
E-mail: ama4@cornell.edu

Online at <http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scaffolds/>