In This Issue:
Calendar
Goodbye to John R. Holowid
Fruit Perfume Lures Femaile Codling Moths
Obtaining Information about Current Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code
2001 Ohio Peach Crop
2001 National Peach Crop
Black Raspberries are Tops
Assistance for Apple Growers
Japanese Beetle Control
Stark Brothers Out of Business
Fruit Observations & Trap Reports
Phenology
Northern Ohio Scab & Fire Blight Activity
Ohio Degree-Days
August 20, 2001: Ohio Fruit & Vegetable Young Grower Tour, beginning at Hillsboro. Includes retail, wholesale, and auction marketing operations in addition to a wagon tour of fruit and vegetable research plots. This bus tour is designed for growers 40 years of age and younger, and others are welcome if interested! Sponsors include Ohio Vegetable & Potato Growers Association, Ohio Fruit Growers Society, OSU Centers at Piketon, Groco Farms, Inc., Bayer Corporation, Farm Credit Services, and UAP Great Lakes. Capacity will be limited to one bus. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. at the Southern State Community College just north of Hillsboro. The bus will leave at 8:30 a.m. for the first stop. Stops include:
9:30 to 11:00 a.m.: Windmill Farm Market, Springboro. Owners Jeff and Molly Wentworth and manager Teresa Moore will give us a tour of Windmill Farm Market, located in the growing and prosperous area of Springboro, south of Dayton. Their market consists of greenhouses, strawberries, raspberries, vegetables, an animal petting area, and a spectacular Fall Festival with numerous families and school groups attending this event. Healthy food, family entertainment, and a comfortable atmosphere for children are important to Windmill Farm Market. Participants will learn valuable pointers on operating a market in an area of rapid growth and development.
11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Groco Farms, Jamestown. Mark and Ron Guess (father and son) will give a tour of their 400-acre vegetable operation. The Guesses grow summer squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, cabbage, zucchini, and eggplant for the wholesale market. Ron and Mark have recently designed and constructed three 84 foot wide self-propelled harvestaids that have increased harvest efficiency on their bell pepper, cucumber, and squash crops. Weather permitting, participants should be able to view this machine in action as well as learn about their production practices. They will also review their produce packaging shed, where semi-loads of produce are brought into the shed and washed, graded, packed, cooled, and shipped daily by the semi-load to markets throughout the United States. Participants will also learn about their labor management practices, including the use of migrant labor. Groco Farms will provide lunch for participants.
3:30 to 5:00 p.m.: Bainbridge Produce Auction, Bainbridge. To expand agriculture production and marketing opportunities for area farmers, farm families from the Bainbridge, Ohio area built the Bainbridge Produce Auction, LLC to better serve produce sellers and buyers throughout the region. Working with Brad Bergefurd of the OSU Extension Enterprise Center in June of 1999, the Bainbridge Produce Auction facility was built by the area farmers. The Grand Opening of the Wholesale Produce Auction occurred in July 1999. Products marketed through the Bainbridge Produce Auction include locally grown bedding plants, perennials, nursery stock, cut flowers, hanging baskets, and over 100 other types of produce from apples to zucchini. Wholesale produce auctions are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the growing season, with hay, grain and straw sales held the first Friday of every month throughout the winter.
6:00 p.m. to Dark.: Hillsboro Field Night at Southern State Community College, Hillsboro. This annual event features a wagon tour and review of numerous fruit and vegetable research plots. Researchers with The OSU Centers at Piketon, The Ohio State University, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center will explain the research plots and answer grower questions about current season growing problems.
Reservations: Those wishing accommodations the night before or after the tour may consider the following hotels in Hillsboro: Days Inn (800) 665-4145, 103 Harry Sauner Rd; Paragon Inn (937) 393-4730, 883 W Main St.; or Greystone Motel (937) 393-1966, 8190 U.S. Rt. 50. Contact the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers office at (614) 249-2424 or growohio@ofbf.org for more information. Complete information and registration form is available at http://www.ofbf.org by clicking on "Upcoming Events."
The luscious aroma of ripe pears could spell doom to codling moths. Agricultural Research Service scientists have discovered that a certain chemical in pears provides just the right perfume to attract female codling moths to traps. That's a breakthrough that may revolutionize integrated pest management (IPM) in apple, pear, and walnut orchards worldwide -- and will help growers to continue providing safe food more economically.
Codling moths are the most severe and widely distributed pest of apples, pears, and walnuts in the world. The moths were accidentally introduced into the United States from Europe in the 1700's and have been a menace ever since.
Uncontrolled, the larvae -- the worm in the apple -- can destroy up to 95 percent of an apple crop and up to 60 percent of a pear crop. Feeding by larvae creates holes in walnut hulls and shells that can allow fungi to enter and infect the kernels. Some fungi produce toxins that at high levels are a food safety concern. Both federal and international regulations prohibit growers from selling toxin-contaminated nuts.
"Sex attractants called pheromones have been the main tool available to growers for monitoring codling moths in orchards," says ARS entomologist Douglas M. Light. Pheromones, which are chemicals given off by female moths to attract males for mating, have allowed scientists and growers to trap and monitor male moths in orchards.
A synthetic version of the codling moth pheromone has been available for 30 years and provides the basis for mating-disruption programs. Growers can disrupt the ability of males to find a mate by flooding the orchard canopy with pheromone. Or they can time insecticide sprays according to the number of moths found in traps baited with pheromone.
Now Light has found a new, potentially more useful tool. "We've found a natural chemical in a fruit that is as effective as pheromones in attracting moths. But more importantly, this compound not only attracts males, it lures females," Light says. He works in the USDA-ARS Plant Protection Research Unit at the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California.
While pheromone-based programs target male moths, the real goal has always been to reduce the female's ability to reproduce. Females can lay 50 to 100 eggs, and two or three generations can hatch each growing season. Attracting females directly would allow growers to eliminate the females and their unlaid eggs and to monitor mating cycles more precisely.
"IPM programs are based on the relationship between the time when male moths appear in pheromone traps and the time eggs begin to hatch," says ARS entomologist Alan L. Knight. To predict insect development, scientists use a measurement tool called a degree-day model. For codling moths, eggs are believed to hatch after the accumulation of 250 degree days -- which ranges from 15 to 30 calendar days after the males emerge and are detected in sex-pheromone-baited traps.
"There's a lot of potential error in estimating egg hatch based on the number of males trapped," says Knight. "We think that being able to monitor females should be a lot more accurate." In field tests, Knight verified that the pear-derived attractant is more effective than pheromones in monitoring -- and potentially predicting -- mating and egg laying.
"In the past, growers would use long-lasting insecticides that would cover the range of possible days when moths could lay eggs and larvae could hatch," Knight says. "But as environmental regulations require use of less toxic and shorter-lived pesticides, it becomes important to know exactly when the females mate and begin their egg laying." Once the larvae hatch, there is only a short time before they crawl to and bore into the developing fruit, where they are safe from external controls.
Although apples and pears generally suffer more from codling moth attacks, Light was looking for a way to protect walnut orchards. He wondered if using one of their preferred foods -- pears -- would lure the insects away from the walnuts.
Light worked with a team of ARS chemists at the Albany laboratory to obtain 37 combinations of the chemicals that make up pear odors and flavors. Improvements in chemical detection methods over the last two decades allowed the scientists to isolate and identify the many components that make up a wide range of fruit and nut odors and flavors.
One of the mixtures showed extraordinary promise as a codling moth attractant. They discovered that the key attractant was a chemical known as the pear ester, or ethyl (2E, 4Z)-2,4-decadienoate.
To pursue the commercial potential of his discovery, Light established a cooperative research and development agreement with Trécé, Inc., of Salinas, California. Clive Henrick, vice president of research and development at Trécé, used synthetic chemistry techniques to confirm that one key chemical in pears attracted the moths.
Pear ester, they found, acts as a kairomone. Unlike a pheromone, which involves only one species, kairomones are chemicals emitted by one species (in this case pears) that attract and benefit another, such as codling moths. The moths have apparently evolved to detect this odor and use it to locate a preferred food.
"There are a lot of known kairomones, but most are worthless for commercial applications to monitor insects under field conditions," Henrick says. "This one is fantastic."
ARS and Trécé have applied for a patent on use of the pear ester for codling moth monitoring and control. Trécé also plans to include the attractant in a lure containing insecticides. This attracticide will kill moths that contact it. "This approach will use less than 10 percent of the amount of insecticide that would normally be used," Henrick says.
Researchers estimate that 90 to 95 percent of male codling moths in an orchard must be trapped or prevented from finding a mate to reduce the number of fertile eggs laid to an economically manageable level. "But for each female trapped, dozens of eggs are immediately eliminated," says Knight.
"Right now, there is no effective and economical way to determine how many females are in an orchard," says Light. "Female lures may help growers reduce pesticide use either by disrupting mating or by helping growers time their pesticide use more precisely."
Direct agricultural marketers being affected by this program will need to work with local health department officials. Initial communication should always be directed to the local health department. As with any new program, there will be problems that arise and need to be resolved. Consumers, academia, industry, local health department personnel, etc. are encouraged to contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Division of Food Safety with questions related to this new program that are not resolved locally. The following communication vehicles are available.
E-mail: foodsafety@odant.agri.state.oh.us
Phone: 1-614-728-6250
Toll-free: 1-800-282-1955 and ask receptionist or follow instructions to connect to Food Safety.
Fax: 1-614-644-0720
Current Law and Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code
http://www.state.oh.us/agr/FoodSafetyrfsac.html
Proposed legislation
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=124_SB_136
Keeping Perspective. . .
The National Peach Council estimates that Ohio will produce 12 million pounds of peaches in 2001. That is 17% above last year's crop and 77% above that of 1998. The reason for the increase is due to young trees planted in the mid 1990's that are now maturing and creating more leaf surface and fruit per tree.
Ohio peach growers have had several good seasons for the last five years. Frost in April has been minimal, and growers have had more fruit than before. Red Haven is also a very productive cultivar and continues to be produced by growers for Ohio customers.
New peach cultivars, such as white peaches, are being tested at Ohio State University. Recent reports show California increasing in white peach cultivars with predications that white flesh peaches and nectarines could account for 18 to 20 percent of the California crop. White flesh peaches may have 16 to 17 percent brix (soluble solids, or sugars) while yellow flesh peaches have 12 to 14 percent brix. White flesh peaches have always been available in eastern areas such as the Carolinas, but California has the major retail markets in the U.S.
Peaches have fiber and vitamin C. Health magazines place peaches in the same category as strawberries and raspberries. However, Ohio peaches picked ripe from the tree and sold immediately to customers at farm markets have exceptional flavor and juices that go everywhere. And you do not have to drive to Georgia for a Georgia belle.
John Lott, National Peach Council President, reports that the California peach crop will be down by 11% and the nectarine crop will be down by 13%. Widespread hail in California and frost during bloom in North and South Carolina will indicate fewer shipments of peaches and nectarines. However, Pennsylvania, which is down by 1,100 acres from last year, will produce a crop larger than 2000. The Pennsylvania peach crop will be slightly higher than New Jersey's in 2001.
The California peach shipping season began on June 24 and ran through August 19 in 2000 with 986 to 1319 truck loads per week. Heavy movement at this time can decrease prices in retail stores. Retail price is generally about five times the price received by the grower. Other crops as plums and nectarines also are shipped at the same time.
With the California crop being reduced, peach growers east of the Mississippi are generally projecting more peaches in 2001 than 2000. West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio are looking at a full crop, and fruit is expected to be in one of the best conditions for size and flavor in the past few years.
Black raspberry varieties are the number one raspberries being grown in Ohio, according to a pre-season survey by Ohio State University researchers. Fifty-seven percent of the 174 growers sampled in the survey said they grow black raspberries, followed by 26 percent who grow red raspberry spring varieties, and 14 percent who grow red raspberry fall varieties. Purple and golden raspberry varieties rounded out the survey with about three percent of the acreage. Sandy Kuhn, berry coordinator of the OSU Centers at Piketon, said the pre-season survey is the first in a series of raspberry studies being conducted this summer. The surveys are designed to determine how many acres of raspberries are being grown in Ohio, where producers grow their crop, and what markets are willing to purchase local raspberries and at what price.
"With the interest in growing and marketing berries steadily increasing in Ohio, we wanted to get a feel for what is currently being grown, yields producers are getting, and how berries are being marketed," said Kuhn. "This will give us an idea of what kinds of new and existing products growers should be targeting and where there are potential markets."
The 1997 Ohio Census of Agriculture reported 245 acres of raspberries grown on 181 farms in Ohio. Kuhn said that although those figures are helpful, the information is not entirely accurate. "Well, for one thing, that is the most recent data we have," she said. "Also, there are many farmers who grow only small acres of berries and only market them in pick-your-own operations, so they are not registered in the census."
In addition to identifying the top raspberry varieties, the pre-season survey also outlined prices producers charge customers in pick-your-own operations, on-farm markets, and community farmers markets. For example, producers who grow and sell black raspberries typically charge $2.37/lb in pick-your-own markets, $3.33/pint in on-farm markets, and $3.79/pint in farmers markets. The prices in the survey were set by the producers based on what they received for their product the previous year. Kuhn said a second survey, to be conducted later in the season, will determine what producers actually receive in all three markets.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service is assisting in compiling survey data. OSU researchers have applied for a two-year, $55,000 state-planning grant to help fund the surveys. The pre-season survey is available online at http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~prec/hort/berry/price.htm.
The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation to provide the nation's apple growers with $150 million in market loss assistance. Specifically, the $15.7 billion House agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal 2002 (H.R. 2330) allocates $150 million to offset a portion of the losses apple growers sustained in marketing the 2000 apple crop.
"We are extremely grateful to our allies in Congress for their steadfast support of America's apple growers," said U.S. Apple Association (USApple) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz, whose group worked closely with key congressional members to garner the House's approval of the apple assistance measure. "We especially appreciate their efforts to address the devastating economic hardships facing our nation's apple growers by providing this much-needed assistance."
Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), John Sweeney (R-N.Y). and James Walsh (R-N.Y.) of the House Appropriations Committee sponsored the $150 million apple assistance amendment during that committee's consideration of the agriculture appropriations bill. House Rules Committee members Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) secured that committee's endorsement of the amendment, clearing the measure for today's favorable vote by the House of Representatives.
"While we're thankful to have prevailed in the House, the game is far from over," said Naasz. "We are hard at work to ensure the Senate follows suit and, hopefully, ups the ante to $250 million." Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) are sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate to provide $250 million in assistance to America's apple growers. The Senate is expected to consider its version of the fiscal 2002 agriculture spending bill before the congressional recess in August. Any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill will have to be reconciled before the agriculture spending legislation can be sent to President George W. Bush for his signature. The fiscal 2001 agriculture appropriations act (Public Law 106-387) provided $18.7 billion in discretionary spending, including $138 million in direct assistance for the nation's apple growers.
Growers have suffered losses of $1.5 billion over the past five years, including an estimated $500 million during the past year alone, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics. Unfairly priced imports, excessive regulatory costs, stagnant domestic consumption, food retail consolidation, subsidized foreign competition, diminished exports, and global overproduction are all to blame.
For control of Japanese beetles on fruit, Sevin is labeled and effective, but the PHI will prevent use in situations where harvest is underway. The other materials listed below are not considered to be as effective, but do offer more flexibility for use on small fruits.
|
Days PHI | |||||
|
Material |
Grape | Blueberry | Brambles | Apples | Peaches |
| Imidan | 14 | 3 | -- | 7 | 14 |
| Malathion | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Pyrellin | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
| Pyrenone | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
| Rotenone | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Sevin | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
The company reportedly filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, July 2, just three days after most of the company's 3,000 employees were terminated. The privately held company listed more than $100 million in assets and more than $100 million in debt in their petition. The company was the owner of Breck's Bulbs,Gurney's, Henry Field's, Michigan Bulb Co., New Holland Bulb, Spring Hill Nursery, and Stark Brothers wholesale company.
Waterman Lab, Columbus, Dr. Celeste Welty, OSU Extension Entomologist
Traps used: STLM = Wing trap, SJS = Pherocon V, Codling Moth = mean of 3 MultiPher® traps, Others = MultiPher
Site: East District; Erie & Lorain Counties
Source: Jim Mutchler, IPM Scout
Traps Used: STLM=wing traps, SJS=Pherocon-V,
Others=MultiPher®
Other pests include white apple leafhopper, green apple aphid, Japanese beetle, wooly apple aphid, oriental fruit moth strike
Beneficials include: lacewings everywhere, orange maggots, white maggots, lady beetles
Other pests include green apple aphid, white apple leafhopper, potato leafhopper, lilac borer, apple rust mite, oak borer, Japanese beetle, oriental fruit moth flagging
Beneficials include: lacewings eggs & larvae everywhere, lady beetles, orange maggots, banded thrips, predatory mite
| Coming Events | Range of Degree Day Accumulations | |
| Base 43° F | Base 50° F | |
| Redbanded leafroller 2nd flight begins | 1096-2029 | 656-1381 |
| Codling moth 1st flight subsides | 1112-2118 | 673-1395 |
| Spotted tentiform leafminer 2nd flight peak | 1295-2005 | 824-1355 |
| Codling moth 2nd flight begins | 1355-2302 | 864-1549 |
| Obliquebanded leafroller 1st flight subsides | 1420-2452 | 899-1790 |
| San Jose scale 2nd flight begins | 1449-1995 | 893-1407 |
Thanks to Scaffolds Fruit Journal (Art Agnello)
| Dates | Level of Disease Activity | |
| Observed | July 1, 4, 8 | Possible scab infection & damage |
| July 2, 3, 5-7, 9-11 | Scab active, but no infection expected | |
| July 1, 3-5, 7, 8, 10 | Possible fire blight infection and damage | |
| July 2, 6, 9, 11 | No fire blight activity | |
| July 1-11 | Possible sooty blotch infection & damage | |
| Forecast | July 12-21 | Scab active, but no infection expected |
| July 12-14 | No fire blight activity | |
| July 15 | Fire blight active, but no infection | |
| July 16-21 | Possible fire blight infection and damage | |
| July 12-21 | Possible sooty blotch infection & damage |
| Location | Reported Degree Day Accumulations | Forecasted Degree Day Accumulations July 18 | ||||||
| June 27 | July 4 | July 11 | ||||||
| Base 45° F | Base 50° F | Base 45° F | Base 50° F | Base 45° F | Base 50° F | Base 45° F | Base 50° F | |
| Akron - Canton | 1298 | 909 | 1463 | 1040 | 1630 | 1172 | 1801 | 1307 |
| Cincinnati | 1705 | 1252 | 1887 | 1399 | 2080 | 1557 | 2273 | 1715 |
| Cleveland | 1311 | 933 | 1484 | 1070 | 1655 | 1206 | 1818 | 1334 |
| Columbus | 1661 | 1227 | 1857 | 1387 | 2057 | 1554 | 2241 | 1703 |
| Dayton | 1587 | 1169 | 1766 | 1313 | 1955 | 1467 | 2142 | 1619 |
| Mansfield | 1311 | 926 | 1477 | 1058 | 1642 | 1183 | 1813 | 1323 |
| Norwalk | 1334 | 954 | 1586 | 1040 | 1662 | 1181 | 1829 | 1323 |
| Piketon | 1686 | 1231 | 1876 | 1386 | 2065 | 1540 | 2256 | 1696 |
| Toledo | 1354 | 971 | 1535 | 1116 | 1722 | 1268 | 1894 | 1406 |
| Wooster | 1359 | 967 | 1526 | 1099 | 1694 | 1232 | 1865 | 1368 |
| Youngstown | 1239 | 856 | 1397 | 979 | 1550 | 1098 | 1702 | 1215 |
Ted W. Gastier
Extension Agent, Agriculture
Tree Fruit Team Coordinator
Ohio State University Extension Huron County
180 Milan Avenue
Norwalk, OH 44857
Phone: (419)668-8210
FAX: (419)663-4233
E-mail: gastier.1@osu.edu
Copyright © The Ohio State University 2001
All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension
are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to
race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender,
age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director,
OSU Extension.
TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868