Most migratory honey beekeepers have started to deploy their hives this week. Commercial bumblebee quads arrived last week. This signals the stop order for Avaunt, Actara and Diazinon applications. Many growers treated for scale with Diazinon on 6/10 with the incredible low wind conditions and early release of crawlers. If you have scale, treat ASAP (and hold bees off), or consider waiting until the second generation around August 15.
Sparganothis fruitworm is now flying and likely any sprays chasing the remaining larvae is ill advised. If you see lots of moths in the coming weeks, consider adding an Intrepid and a Delegate after your two Altacors. The spag eggs take 3 weeks to hatch so timing to manage them is the many weeks in July. If you plan a bee-friendly spray every 7-10 days, you should be covered!
Green Spanworm moths continue to be seen. They are an indication that you may want to manage the larvae in mid May next year.
We are holding a Zoom Bogside meeting Wednesday June 29, 8-10 am. 2 contact hours will be offered. Contact Robyn at the Station for the link.
Important things to keep in mind for fruit rot management.
- 2022 final keeping quality forecast is POOR.
- This suggests that the fruit rot incidence could be high unless timely and effective disease management strategies are employed.
- Fruit quality will be sacrificed if you reduce your fungicide use drastically.
- Be conservative If the beds are cultivated for fresh fruit, were not managed or sprayed with fungicides last year and/or had significantly higher fruit rot in the previous year.
- Above normal sunshine hours during June, July and August (especially July) have been associated with good or better quality than predicted.
Plan an efficient fruit rot management program:
- Cultural practices are as important as fungicide applications.
Any practice that promotes excessive vine growth such as excessive N fertilizer, holding water high in ditches could favor fruit rot development. Other factors that increase the risk of fruit rot include dense vine growth, poor air circulation, high humidity, slow drying-out of dew, and poor drainage.
- Always read the label and communicate with handlers for making fungicide decisions.
- If you are considering broad-spectrum fungicides such as Chlorothalonils (eg. Bravo Weather Stik and Bravo Ultrex) and Mancozebs (eg. Manzate Max, Dithane M-45) as part of fungicide regimes, please use them early in “the possible infection period” or “disease development phase” (when the maximum number of flowers are open: Early to mid-bloom). Do not apply more than two applications of Group 3 and Group 11 fungicides (eg. Proline, QuadrisTop, Indar and Abound) due to resistance concerns. Copper fungicides (eg. Kocide 3000, Badge SC, Champ, Mastercop), if chosen, should be applied starting from late bloom.
- Do not use a fungicide at less than the registered rate.
- Bloom and early fruit set are susceptible for infection. Monitor bloom on regular basis for timing your fungicide applications.
- Aim for uniform coverage. Apply materials with low phytotoxicity during fruit set.
