Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/603228
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2015 69 the trunk. They seem to like small diameter tall spindle or super spindle trees. Agnello, and several others, spoke to growers who were visiting orchards at Cherry Lawn Farms, owned by Todd and Ted Furber near Sodus, New York. Visitors were there on the Lake Ontario Summer Tour to look at newly installed wind machines, but they were able to look at a few trees infested with black stem borer and hear experts talk about trials they are conducting in cooperation with the Furbers. University and U.S. Department of Agriculture ento- mologists across the country are watching the pest. It's been found in apple orchards in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina, but it invades other trees as well and is a serious threat to ornamental trees. It has also been found in Oregon. Growing menace? The insect, Xylosandrus germanus, is a tiny black bee- tle, about 2 millimeters long, that originated in Asia and has been in the United States since 1932. Researchers are concerned about the recent spate of reports from apple orchards. The pest is apparently quite common in wooded areas, where it lives on weak and dying trees. There are millions of dead ash trees in the Northeast now—an estimated 30 million in Michigan alone—killed in the last few years by emerald ash borer. In 2013, the pest was detected in six orchards in the Lake Ontario fruit region in New York. More infested sites were found in 2014 and, this sum- mer, it was found in a Pink Lady orchard in the eastern New York growing region in the Hudson River Valley. It has now been found in more than 30 orchards in New York. This year, Agnello received a grant to monitor and test control in established orchards. Deb Breth, the program leader in the Lake Ontario Fruit Program, has a grant to monitor and test controls in apple nurseries. Agnello, Breth, and Elizabeth Tee (Lake Ontario Fruit Program aide), as well as cooperating consultants, are using a plastic bottle trap baited with ethanol to capture adults and monitor fl ight activity across the state. Cornell plant PHOTO BY LIZ TEE A foundress borer blocks the tunnel and dies while her brood develop in a chamber lined with a fungus she carried in to feed them. Growers & Fruit Industry Truck Buyers. . . Partner up with your GMC Business Elite Dealer Lee Peterson Motors Every dollar counts in the ag business, and you need hard working trucks from a reliable dealer you can trust, your GMC Business Elite Dealer. 410 S. First Street • Yakima • 509-575-6372 L P MOTORS .com www Click! Drive! Save! MON-FRI 8 AM - 6 PM SAT 8 AM - 5 PM SUN 11 AM - 4 PM Business Elite Dealer. 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 Regular Cab Standard Box Rich Ausink Fleet Manager Jim Peterson General Manager The right truck customized to your specific agricultural businees needs. rich@lpmotors.com jim@lpmotors.com