Brief: Our orchards have multiple insect pests, some of which may require management this week. Oblique Banded Leafroller (OBLR) is well beyond peak hatch. The 1st hatch occurred 14th June, approximately 350DD from first sustained trap capture on 30th May, at which time an efficacious insecticide would have been applied. A second application would also have been made to manage this important pest to cover the insects complete emergence. A total of 833DD43 have now occurred, completing OBLR hatch in the Mid-Hudson Valley. If OBLR trap captures were found in moderate to high counts, and insecticides were not applied, scouting for the presence of OBLR larva should be conducted. Observations of clustered fruit for webbing or feeding injury would then require OBLR management.
Potato leafhopper and green aphid complex continue to feed on developing shoots of newly planted trees. Wooly apple aphid (WAA) are increasing dramatically in commercial blocks where controls has been omitted. This is especially true in blocks treated last year with late season BMSB management tools including pyrethroids, which reduce native biological control. In these cases, WAA should be managed well before they over-run the orchard as we near harvest.
Last month beginning on June 7th – July 7th proved to be unseasonably warm yet providing weekly and adequate volume of rain as 4.24 inches of rain fell in Milton, NY over the past 30 days. Over the past 7 days we received 0.91 inches, providing increased soil moisture for apple maggot flies continuing emergence from soils over the weekend. Additional rain forecast of showers over the next few days is 40-50%, possibly increasing the rate of Apple Maggot (AM) emergence this coming week if adequate rain and soil moisture continues for fly emergence.
Apple Maggot (AM): Immature and developing mature Apple Maggot have been flying over the past two weeks. In this weeks assessment of our AM traps we captured an average 4 immature adults per yellow sticky card traps. As of Wednesday (July 3rd), baited red spheres in abandoned orchards remained at 0 adults per trap threshold in two high pressure, mixed variety block of untreated trees in the mid-Hudson Valley.
At this point in time, each orchard block should now have baited AM sticky sphere traps out to determine AM pressure in blocks containing early maturing varieties.
Ginger Gold and Honey Crisp are highly susceptible to early maggot infestations and should be managed accordingly.
High relative humidity during the morning hours will increase deposition of material while cool temperatures reduce the likelihood of detoxification using pyrethroid based pre-mix insecticides.
A link for application windows for the next week employing NOAA Weather.
Introduction: The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella, also known by mature tree fruit growers as the “railroad worm”, causing ‘trails beneath the skin of infested apple, is a native of eastern North America. The fly originally bred in large fruited hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) and as colonization from Europe and tree fruit production began in earnest in the 17th century, the apple maggot adopted the apple as a principle host. The fly has been a major fruit pest in the northeastern United States and Canada for the past 200 years.
During the early 1980s, the AM became established in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, becoming a serious threat in the major apple production areas in these western fruit growing regions. Complete control of this insect is necessary as fresh market apple must be free from AM injury and larval presence during storage and shipment overseas.
AM normally has a single generation a year, although there are two exceptions: AM may have a partial second generation in the southern part of its range, and in some years, individuals may remain in the soil two winters before emerging as adults.
Red sphere traps are very attractive to mature adult female AM flies, ready to oviposit. Through the development of the red sticky sphere and attractive lures using ammonium acetate, butyl hexanoate (fruit odor) ammonium carbonate (food odor), or blends. Trap captures then are used as the trigger for apple maggot management, postponed until mature flies capable of laying viable eggs are captured in red sphere traps. When placed along wooded edges and abandoned blocks in commercial apple, traps can provide optimum timing for management of early maturing, highly attractive varieties such as Ginger Gold, using a threshold of 5 flies per trap.
P.J. Chapman and R. Dean found dramatic variability of AM emergence from season to season. There is considerable variability between farms with infestation levels differing between farms based on a number of variables.
These include weather, soil moisture and site, with apple variety preference of early egg laying puncture of fruit coinciding with varietal maturity.
Evaluations of apple maggot emergence from 1931 to 1969 in Hudson Valley Orchards showed that in 31% of the years monitored for emergence, AM emerged beyond the 20th of August. Yet there was little or no emergence of new flies after the 1st of September.
This reassured apple producers that applications beyond the 15th of August were not needed AS LONG AS effective reside was present up to the 1st of September. In 1973 (the year of R. W. Dean and P.J. Chapman’s publication) the organophosphates such as Imidan and Guthion were the insecticides of choice in managing AM.
One of the challenges we face today is the lack of residual efficacy of newer insecticides to actually kill the AM fly. This may not be as important as one might think.
Generally, the neonicotinoids prevent the fly from laying eggs into the fruit, yet they produce lower levels of mortality of the fly, allowing adult AM to be present in the orchard late into the season. If there is significant rainfall there is often a reduction in residual activity that may lead to AM punctures with few or no eggs present in the sting or puncture of the apple.
The bottom line is that traditional IPM based use of the baited red sticky sphere, which has been successful at monitoring the onset of AM emergence and treatment threshold, is not a strong tool for use in signaling reapplication, due to low direct mortality of the newer insecticide tools.
Once AM spheres have been ‘reset’ (cleaned), AM flies may reach the 5 fly per trap threshold more quickly using neonicotinoids that have high egg laying deterrence but low adult toxicity. Instead, the use of neonicotinoids such as Actara and to a lesser degree Assail, will need to be applied at a 10-14 day window despite high trap captures immediately after orchard treatments into September.
Assail is a very effective insecticide at managing the AM fly, and has a great fit for the onset of 2nd generation Codling moth.
In general Assail has excellent efficacy against the internal lepidopteran complex such as OFM and CM late into the season.
To drive this point home, in page 9 of a presentation by Dr. H. Reissig in 2010, Harvey confirmed the ability of AM to ‘sting’ fruit yet produce very few eggs employing many old and new insecticides against the AM.
In this comparative study, Dr. Reissig demonstrated the efficacy of Assail and Guthion to be about equal in control of AM tunneling from larva.