Reports of very high numbers of weevil have come in (for example, averages of 20 or 45). If your bees have not arrived and you do not have flowers open, you could still get in an Avaunt spray. However, Wonderful Bees has started to deliver and hybrids have started with scattered bloom! Remember it is illegal to spray Avaunt (choice for spring weevil control) when open blooms are present.
Cranberry IPM Message
The past week has had some very cold temperatures and we have had reports of growers running for frost late last week and over the weekend. We could still have another night with very low temperatures, so be prepared to run if needed.
All LW floods should be off your bogs by now (or if on the Cape, by the end of the month). Frost tolerance is 29.5 F once the flood is removed, no matter the appearance of the buds. Sweep for early season insects and CB weevil. Generally, no fertilizer is needed on LW bogs until bloom.
Gypsy moth is still present and should be swept and managed for. Cranberry weevil is being found on many bogs at threshold and now is the time to manage this insect (Avaunt). Winter moth is wrapping up and not many are being found on bogs anymore.
The last frost tolerance check on May 9th had ST, BL, and hybrids at 29.5 F and 27 for EB and Howes. All cultivars at Rosebrook were at the bud elongation stage. Hopefully after the cold day today, we will enter at least a few days of warmer temperatures, especially at night.
Dodder has been reported in the seedling stage in Carver over the weekend. We had dodder emerge in our buckets by the greenhouse on May 3 (last week).
We are finally getting some much needed rain, though total amounts varied widely throughout the growing region. Depending on the path of Hurricane Matthew, the area could receive even more rain this weekend. September weather report has been posted on the web site. http://ag.umass.edu/cranberry/weather-summaries.
We have heard of a few reports of noticeable Spag flights over the past week or so. It is not unusual to see Spag flight at this time of year. We do NOT recommend applying insecticides at this point. They will not affect the adults (moths). The moths you see now will lay eggs and the first-instar larvae will overwinter. If you see a flight of Spag out on your bog, you should be especially...
Drought conditions continue in most of the state (approaching 93% affected) and for the first time a significant area (approaching 18%) has reached Extreme Drought status. This is in the Northeastern part of the state with almost all of Essex County included. Only far Western Berkshire County is considered NOT to be in drought at this time. Most of our region is in the Moderate Drought...
