Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/256927
12 FEBRUARY 15, 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Pest-Effective: • Season-long mating disruption • More starting active ingredient • 20% more pheromone released during the growing season Cost-Effective: • Season-long control with one application • Hand-application costs cut in half; no labor-intensive twist-ons • Minimal regulation • No harm to beneficial insects • No girdling losses Consistent, Season-Long Codling Moth Control NoMate ® CM Spiral is superior by design and performance for codling moth mating disruption in apple and pear orchards. No competing product goes on more easily, works harder, or gets better results. NoMate® CM Spiral is designed, manufactured, and supported in the United States by Scentry Biologicals, Inc., maker of the first pheromone-based product approved by the U.S. EPA. 610 Central Avenue Billings, MT 59102 (406) 248-5856 1-800-735-5323 www.scentry.com Slip-on NoMate® CM spirals consistently release volatilizing solid-matrix pheromone through flexible PVC dispensers. Female moth scent plumes are overwhelmed, thwarting male moth mating efforts. For more information, call 1-800-735-5323 or visit www.scentry.com. Dave Wilson Nursery 19701 Lake Road Hickman, CA 95323 (209) 874-1821 Fax 874-1920 Toll Free 800-654-5854 www.davewilson.com "We grew up with Zaiger Genetics and Dave Wilson Nursery. We first experienced the flavor of the Pluot ® and passed on that experience to our community. We often hear customers at our local farm stand say things such as, "you have to experience it, or you can't explain the flavor of a pluot". I call this our return on experience. Generations of support has led us to where we are and what we are about today. We are farmers, we create the experience, we support it, but most of all we are a part of it. Dave Wilson Nursery has been with us every step of the way to stay fully vested in our community and helping to create the experience". Craig Wallis and Bill Loretelli Loretelli Farms, Modesto, CA 75 Years & Growing 1938 - 2013 a history of Sphaeropsis or speck rot incidence. One orchard uses overhead sprinklers for irrigation; two use drip irrigation. Auvil is coordinating the pruning portion of the proj- ect. Three treatments are being studied—no pruning, chainsaw pruning, and detailed pruning. The detailed pruning treatment uses a chainsaw and lopper to remove all diseased wood, especially pendant wood with fruit. Although the crab apple trees looked rather spindly after his chainsaw work, they responded with regrowth of healthy wood by July. The project is also monitoring fruit infections on apples adjacent to crab apple trees throughout the grow- ing season. Additionally, fruit held in storage is evaluated monthly for decay for up to nine months after harvest. Previous research in Delicious and Fuji orchards showed that crab apple trees are a major source of Sphaeropsis rot and speck rot infection from May through November, Kim reported. For both diseases, September was the highest month for infection, with up to 90 percent of the crab apple trees infected. But even in the beginning of the season in May, more than 10 percent of the crab apple trees were infected in some orchards. Though project results are preliminary as storage data are still being collected, Kim said detailed pruning (using a chainsaw and loppers to remove all visible signs of the diseases) greatly reduced the number of commer- cial apples infected from nearby crab apple trees. In the three orchards, detailed pruning reduced commercial fruit infection to 5 percent or less. In comparison, when no pruning was done, up to 25 percent of the commercial apples were infected. Chainsaw-only treatments resulted in 10 percent fruit infection in the overhead sprinkler orchard and 5 percent in the two drip irrigation orchards. Preharvest fungicides Research has shown that preharvest fungicides help control the two crab apple diseases. Kim recommends a preharvest spray of Pristine (boscalid, pyraclostrobin), Topsin, (thiophanate-methyl) or ziram one to two weeks before harvest. Of the three postharvest fungicides TBZ (thiabenda- zole), Scholar (fludioxonil), and Penbotec (pyrimethanil), Penbotec was the most effective at controlling Sphaero- sis rot and provided complete control, said Kim. The same three fungicides control speck rot, with Scholar and Penbotec providing complete control. "Postharvest treatments are the most effective way to control the two diseases," Kim said. Although the indus- try has been using postharvest fungicides for several years, the diseases are still showing up in commercial packing houses. Why are these two diseases so hard to control? Kim said spores can germinate in the stem and also penetrate fruit tissue through stomata, cracks, or len- ticels. Fungicides are not as effective when the disease gets inside the fruit. "That's why we need to eliminate all spores." • Effects of pruning infected crab apple trees Two pruning levels and no pruning were studied in three Washington State orchards heavily infected with speck rot. Orchard A was irrigated with overhead sprinklers; Orchards B and C were drip irrigated. Preliminary data for 2013 harvested fruit . Does not include postharvest evaluation of fruit after nine months in storage. SOURCE: Dr. Richard Kim, Pace International Infected fruit (%) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Orchard A Orchard B Orchard C Control: No pruning Chainsaw: Chainsaw pruning only Detailed: Chainsaw plus loppers