September 6, 2017
This is the final pest update of the 2017 season.
The growing season of rain and fruit flies is nearing the home stretch as we ease into the apple harvest season. The recent cooling has slowed apple maturity and we are likely to see less premature drop over the next week or so. Up until a few day ago the warm temperature were responsible for some drop in varieties from McIntosh to Honeycrisp. Not that we won’t see some continued drop, as maturity appears to be 5-7 day ahead of average, but apples should hang better for the next 5-7 days and we see red over color increases with clear days and cool nights. Stop drop sprays may be necessary if the frequent rainfall persists and as some varieties get closer to anticipated harvest. We are likely past the time that Retain can be used successfully for this purpose. Fruitone N (NAA) is the best stop drop choice at this point. When applied at 10ppm on McIntosh and 20ppm for later varieties a reduction in premature drop can be seen for up to 2 weeks. Remember that while keeping the fruit on the trees NAA can also enhance ripening and treated fruit will not be the best candidates for long term storage.
INSECT & DISEASE CONTROL
APPLE
Disease Pressure –
Insect Pressure –
CHERRY
Disease Pressure –
Insect Pressure –
Links to individual Enviro-Weather stations: