In This Issue:
Calendar February 7-9, 2001: Ohio Fruit Growers Society
Congress, in conjunction with the Ohio Vegetable
and Potato Growers Association, Ohio Direct
Marketing Association, and The Ohio State University
will be held in Toledo at the Seagate Centre and
Radisson Hotel.
March 10: Ohio Berry Growers School, OSU
Piketon Research and Extension Center, Piketon,
Ohio. Presenters for this year's school include Dr.
Barclay Poling (North Carolina State University), Dr.
Fumiomi Takeda (USDA Appalachian Fruit Research
Station), and Peter Bierman and Brad Bergefurd (OSU
Piketon). For more information call Brad Bergefurd
at (740) 289-3727 or e-mail at
bergefurd.1@osu.edu
Editor's Note: We will not publish next week, as we
will be attending the Fruit & Vegetable Congress in
Toledo. See you there!
Michigan Blueberry Web Resources can be
found at:
http://www.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/bluebweb.htm
Topics to be found at this site include:
Pest Fact Sheets:
Other MSUE information posted elsewhere:
Articles below are from the MSU Fruit CAT Alert:
Many blueberry growers have difficulty
achieving adequate control of fruit rots. Levels of
anthracnose rot, in particular, are often a problem even
when appropriate fungicide spray programs are
followed. Growers should not neglect the importance
of proper pruning in anthracnose management.
Important sources of inoculum for anthracnose are
twigs and stems, especially old fruiting twigs that
were infected the previous year. The fungus
overwinters in these twigs, and in the spring and
summer, produces spores that can infect the fruit.
Pruning out old canes helps to remove some
of this inoculum. Pruning also opens up the canopy of
the bush to air and light. This may reduce rots by
decreasing humidity within the bush and allowing
plant surfaces to dry more quickly. A more open
canopy also improves fungicide spray penetration and
distribution within the bush.
Fruit rot reductions due to pruning were
demonstrated in a recent study in an older Jersey field
in Muskegon, Michigan. Over four years, moderate to
heavy pruning reduced anthracnose levels by 0 to 80
percent, depending on the year and harvest. Averaged
across all years and harvests, moderate pruning
reduced anthracnose levels by about 15 percent
compared to light pruning. Heavy pruning usually did
not reduce anthracnose levels over moderate pruning
and was also associated with yield reductions.
Alternaria and Botrytis fruit rot levels were not
affected by pruning. Regular, moderate pruning of
blueberry bushes is recommended to help reduce
anthracnose fruit rot.
Avaunt 30 WDG (water dispersible granules)
was registered in December 2000 for use on apples,
pears, and some vegetable crops. It is a DuPont
product with the active ingredient indoxacarb. The
target pests are mainly caterpillars. Avaunt has been
designated as a reduced risk product by the EPA. The
main mode of entry into insects is by ingestion, and
there is some contact activity. The mode of action is
by blocking sodium ion entry into nerve cells, which
results in paralysis and death. Feeding stops within 0
to 4 hours after ingestion. Avaunt provides 5-14 days
of residual control. It is not systemic. The rate on
apple and pear is 5 to 6 oz per acre. There is a limit of
4 applications per season. The preharvest interval is
28 days, and the re-entry interval is 12 hours. Target
pests on apple and pear are codling moth, oriental fruit
moth, and redbanded leafroller. Additional pests on
apple are tufted apple budmoth, plum curculio, apple
maggot, tarnished plant bug, white apple leafhopper,
and potato leafhopper. Avaunt gives excellent control
of plum curculio and apple maggot, which many of the
other new insecticides do not control. It has low
toxicity to beneficial insects.
Two new products marketed by Rohm and
Haas Company are a major breakthrough in the pest
management strategy known as mating disruption.
Mating disruption by pheromones has been available
for some fruit pests such as Oriental fruit moth for
about 10 years, but until now they have been manually
dispensed in the orchard, with the twist-tie style made
by Pacific Biocontrol the most commonly used
product. New in 2001 are sprayable pheromones for
mating disruption. These products are made in
Canada by 3M Company and marketed by Rohm and
Haas. Each is a timed-release micro-encapsulated pheromone
concentrate that is mixed with water and applied with
conventional ground or aerial application equipment.
One product is called "3M Sprayable
Pheromone, Mating Disruption for Oriental Fruit
Moth", which is used at 1.7 to 2.5 fl oz per acre. The
number of applications is two per generation of the
pest. The first application should be applied just
before the start of the flight period. The second
application should be 2 to 3 weeks later. A second
product is called "3M Sprayable Pheromone, Mating
Disruption for Leafrollers", which controls
obliquebanded leafroller and Pandemis leafroller;
Pandemis is not a pest in the eastern half of the USA.
The rate for leafroller is 3.4 to 6.8 fl oz per acre. The
number and timing of applications is the same as for
Oriental fruit moth.
A product that has been registered since 1998
but overlooked in previous updates is "Last Call CM"
for control of codling moth by pheromones but in a
different way than mating disruption. "Last Call CM"
uses the technology known as "attract and kill". It is
a bait that combines a pheromone to attract male
moths and an insecticide (permethrin) that has rapid
knockdown activity. It is made by IPM Technologies
of Portland, Oregon. The product comes in a hand-held applicator tube that has a calibrated pump that
produces 50-microliter droplets. Each drop contains
the amount of pheromone found in one real female
moth. As the male moth finds and contacts the
droplet, it picks up a lethal dose of permethrin.
Twelve hundred evenly spaced droplets are needed per
acre, with most placed in the upper third of the
canopy. One application provides 6 weeks of
protection. The product should be applied 8 days after
biofix as determined by a pheromone trap.
The transition to the Administration of
President George W. Bush will bring new policy
officials to the Department of Agriculture, beginning
with the appointment of Ann Veneman, who was
confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as the 27th
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on
January 20, 2001. She is the first woman to serve as
Secretary of Agriculture, replacing former Secretary
of Agriculture Dan Glickman.
From 1986 to 1993 Veneman served USDA in
several posts, becoming USDA's first female deputy
secretary -- for international affairs and commodities
-- in 1991. From 1995 to 1999, she served as
agriculture secretary in California, the nation's top
farm-producing state.
Secretary Veneman pledges to foster "an
atmosphere of teamwork, innovation, mutual respect,
and common sense within the Department and focus
our delivery systems on quality service to our
customers."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
informed the US Apple Association that it would not
be able to meet the February 1 implementation date
for the $100 million market loss assistance payment
program for apple growers. USDA indicated that it is
now targeting mid-February for initiating the sign-up
period, which is expected to last six weeks. The US
Apple Association recently conveyed the urgency of
implementing the assistance program in a letter to
newly confirmed Secretary of Agriculture Ann M.
Veneman. Sign-up was originally to have commenced
January 18, according to a news release issued by
outgoing Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on
December 5, 2000.
US Apple encourages growers to contact their
senators and their congressional representative to
request their assistance in prompting USDA to provide
our nation's beleaguered apple growers with the
assistance promised to them by Congress, as soon as
humanly possible. For information on how to contact
your representative, please visit the House of
Representative's website at
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
Contact information for senators is available
at http://www.senate.gov
The applecrop news group: you subscribe,
then questions and answers from the group come
directly to your email address. You can be an active
participant or just a reader. To subscribe, send an
email message to apple-crop@virtualorchard.net
In the subject line of your email message header, type
the word "subscribe" (without the quotation marks),
then send the blank message. You should receive
confirmation that you have subscribed, and email
messages will come to you as they are posted to the
group.
The Virtual Orchard: information on tree
fruit production and insect, disease, and weed
management, along with links to several newsletters at
http://virtualorchard.net/default.html
Washington State University Tree Fruit Information:
http://fruit.wsu.edu
West Virginia University, Kearneysville
Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center:
http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/wvufarm1.html
Midwest Small Fruit and Grape Net:
http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~sfgnet/
Diagnosing berry problems: a site
developed by Marvin Pritts at http://www.hort.cornell.edu then select
"Commercial Fruit", then select "Berries".
Rhubarb:
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/index.html
Fruit newsletters:
Rutgers (New Jersey):
http://www.virtualorchard.net/rce/plantpest/default.html
Cornell (New York):
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scafolds/
Purdue: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/fff/fff.html
These newsletters include links to picture sheets, fact
sheets, and lots of additional information !!!
Books on the web: A Growers Guide To Apple
Insects and Diseases In The Southeast
http://ipmwww.ncsu.edu/apple/contents.html
Midwest Small Fruit Pest Management Handbook
http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/b861/index.html
The (Midwest State's) 2001 Commercial Small Fruit
and Grape Spray Guidehttp://www.hort.purdue.edu/hort/ext/sfg/
For fruit and vegetable growers: Posted on the
Virtual Orchard is the presentation "How to Build a
Web Presence for their Business", which may be of
interest to growers and extension agents.
http://virtualorchard.net/webmarketing/vganjbusinessdefault.html%20
Excellent color illustrations of weeds: from the
Weed Science Society of America
http://ext.agn.uiuc.edu/wssa/subpages/weed/herbarium0.html
For vegetable growers, the vegetable production
news group you subscribe, then questions and
answers from the group come directly to your email
address. You can be an active participant or just a
reader. To subscribe, send a message to
veg-prod@maat.reeusda.gov.
In the subject line of your email message
header, type the word "subscribe" (without the
quotation marks), then send the blank message. You
should receive confirmation that you have subscribed,
and email messages will come to you as they are
posted to the group.
Vegetable production web sites: Last year a
vegetable production news group subscriber asked for
people's favorite web sites relevant to vegetable
production. Richard Molinar of California offered this
list, and although it's a bit heavy on California
listings, growers may find it useful:
Integrated Pest Management: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu
Small Farm Center: http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu
Vegetable Crops Information: http://vric.ucdavis.edu
Fruit and vegetable postharvest information: http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu
Pomology topics: http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu
Sustainable agriculture: http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu
Purdue's new crop information: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop
Prices at US terminal markets: http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/~marketing/market.html
Missouri Alternatives Center: http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/index.htm
San Francisco Wholesale Market Listings: http://www.sfproduce.org/home.html
Other Midwest newsletters on vegetable crops and pest management:
Purdue:
http://www.entm.purdue.edu/entomology/ext/targets/newslett.htm
Ohio State: http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~vegnet/
Minnesota:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/vegipm/
Iowa State: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/
Information about the history of the new rule
and background and history about the National
Organic Program can be obtained at
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop
Blueberries
Proper Pruning to Reduce Blueberry Fruit Rot
Insect Control News
New Secretary of US Dept of Agriculture
Market Loss Assistance Program Sign-Up Delay
Useful Web Sites & News Groups for Growers
USDA Organic Standards Update
Preliminary Monthly Climatological Data for January 2001
Calendar
Blueberries
Source: Massachusetts Berry Notes, January 2001, Volume 13, No. 1
Proper Pruning to Reduce Blueberry Fruit Rot
Source: Eric Hanson and Annemiek Schilder, Michigan
State University's Fruit Crop Advisory Team Alert, Volume
15, No. 1, March 28, 2000
Insect Control News
Source: Celeste Welty, OSU Extension Entomologist
New Secretary of U.S. Department of Agriculture
Source: http://www.fruitgrowersnews.com
Market Loss Assistance Program Sign-Up Delayed Until Mid-February
Source: US Apple via John Wargowsky - Ohio Fruit Growers Society
Useful Web Sites and News Groups For Fruit Growers
Source: The Illinois Fruit and Vegetable News, Volume 7,
No. 1, January 31, 2001
USDA Organic Standards Update
The USDA has finally unveiled a
comprehensive national standard for organic
production. It has been nearly one decade since
Congress mandated that fruits, vegetables, and meats
grown without pesticides or hormones carry
consumer-friendly labels. The USDA press release
about this comprehensive national standard can be
read at:
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2000/12/0425.htm
Preliminary Monthly Climatological Data for Selected Ohio Locations January 2001
| Weather Station Location | Monthly Precip | Normal Monthly Precip | Year-to-Date Precip | Normal Year-to-Date Precip | Average High | Normal High | Average Low | Normal Low | Mean Temp. | Normal Mean |
| Akron-Canton | 1.46 | 2.16 | 32.1 | 32.6 | 20.7 | 16.9 | 26.4 | 24.8 | ||
| Cincinnati | 1.33 | 2.59 | 37.5 | 36.6 | 21.8 | 19.5 | 29.7 | 28.1 | ||
| Cleveland | 1.59 | 2.04 | 32.9 | 31.9 | 22.4 | 17.6 | 27.6 | 24.7 | ||
| Columbus | 1.31 | 2.18 | 35.5 | 34.1 | 21.9 | 18.5 | 28.7 | 26.3 | ||
| Dayton | 0.84 | 2.13 | 34.9 | 34.1 | 21.3 | 17.9 | 28.1 | 26.0 | ||
| Mansfield | 1.23 | 1.98 | 32.3 | 32.1 | 20.5 | 16.8 | 26.4 | 24.5 | ||
| Norwalk | 0.73 | 1.90 | 33.9 | 31.9 | 22.0 | 15.3 | 28.0 | 23.7 | ||
| Toledo | 0.78 | 1.75 | 31.9 | 30.2 | 20.0 | 14.9 | 26.0 | 22.5 | ||
| Wooster | 0.71 | 1.95 | 34.4 | 34.9 | 21.8 | 18.5 | 28.1 | 26.6 | ||
| Youngstown | 1.21 | 2.13 | 32.6 | 30.7 | 21.2 | 16.4 | 26.9 | 23.6 |
Temperatures in degrees F, Precipitation in inches.
The Ohio Fruit ICM News is edited by:
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