June 2016 – Page 2 – Spotted Wing Drosophila

Washington County first find

jec3@cornell.eduJune 15, 2016Leave a comment

A single female SWD was caught on June 13, 2016 in one of four traps set in a blueberry planting in Washington County. These traps are being monitored by Laura McDermott, extension specialist, and Annie Mills, ag technician, with the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension. Blueberries at the farm are not ripe.

This is turning out to be an early year for SWD arrival in New York State. The monitoring network will continue to service traps until SWD is caught at sites for two weeks in a row.

Farmers growing June strawberry may want to check their berries for signs of infestation. Normally June strawberry isn't vulnerable to SWD infestation, but this year's early arrival of SWD could place this crop at risk. Refer to the SWD blog, Do my fruit have SWD? or to the leaflet, Guidelines for checking fruit for SWD larvae in the field, on Cornell Fruit Resources.

2016 monitoring network in NY

jec3@cornell.eduJune 15, 2016Leave a comment

The SWD monitoring network for 2016 is set up. Twenty-five people are collaborating on the network this year, including Cornell Cooperative Extension agriculture educators, regional fruit educators, and extension faculty. A total of 117 Scentry traps and lures are deployed in the network, primarily in raspberry (summer and fall) and blueberry, in 25 Counties.

Most sites are reporting no SWD finds to date, but a few reports have come in of SWD caught in traps. Related to that, this week's trap monitoring at Dr. Greg Loeb's research site caught no SWD (see blog, Ontario County first find), which may indicate that populations are still sporadic and low.

2016 SWD Monitoring Network: collaborators, Counties, number of traps and crops.

Suffolk County first find

jec3@cornell.eduJune 13, 2016Leave a comment

Dr. Faruque Zaman, entomologist with Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension, reports that on June 8, 2016 two female and two male SWD were captured in two separate Scentry-lure baited traps at blueberry and blackberry locations in eastern Long Island. This is about a month earlier than last year’s first interception in Suffolk County. However, after checking 200 young blueberries (collected on June 13, see picture of the fruit stage) no sign of SWD egg laying or damage was found. There were no fruit in the blackberry planting.

These particular blueberry and blackberry sites have surrounding woods and both traps that captured the SWD were placed on the border rows near the woods. No SWD have been captured in traps placed in other locations in Suffolk County (raspberry, grape). At this time the SWD population appears to be very low.

Blueberry fruit developmental stage at the farm where the SWD were caught in Suffolk County, Long Island. No signs of infestation nor egg laying were found on fruit. — Blueberry fruit development stage at the farm where the SWD were caught in Suffolk County, Long Island. No signs of infestation nor egg laying were found on fruit. Photo: Faruque Zaman

Ontario County first find

jec3@cornell.eduJune 13, 2016Leave a comment

Dr. Greg Loeb’s entomology research program, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, has caught 3 SWD females in traps set on the edge of a blueberry planting that is adjacent to woods in Ontario County. This blueberry planting is often the site where Greg’s program catches SWD first. Traps were set out on May 31^st and checked on June 7^th, which indicates the SWD were caught sometime during that week. The good news is that the blueberry crop is not ripe and therefore not vulnerable to oviposition at this site.

This is the earliest that SWD has been caught in New York State since monitoring began in 2012. The mild winter that occurred in New York, with only one significant cold snap around February 14^th, may have contributed to early arrival and overwintering success of SWD. Mild winters and early SWD arrival is the typical situation that is now found in Europe with this invasive insect.

Research by Dr. Anna Wallingford, a post-doctoral associate in Greg’s lab, and others is finding that SWD goes into reproductive diapause in the late fall during which time egg laying ceases and overwintering survivability increases. The traps used to catch these three females were baited with a fermenting lure that is being researched by a team at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey. This same team has research that is underway, on the female SWD caught in these fermenting lure traps, to determine if these early-arrival females are ready to lay eggs.

There is no doubt, the SWD season has begun in New York and it looks as if the 'mild winter early arrival' predictions may prove true. Please note: this finding won't show up on the SWD distribution map, because research trap sites aren't part of the 'map-reporting' monitoring network.

Get ready to protect your crop, find more information on Cornell Fruit Resources:
Spotted Wing Drosophila, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/

Easy to make whole wheat dough trap, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/pdfs/SWDTraps_CornellFruit.pdf

SWD distribution map in NY, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/dist.html

SWD management, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/mgmt.html

Insecticide quick reference table for berries, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/pdfs/swd-insecticides-berries-ny.pdf

Insecticide quick reference table for stone fruit and grapes, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/pdfs/swd-insecticides-grapes-treefruit-ny.pdf

Guidelines for checking fruit for SWD, www.fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/pdfs/SaltFloatation.pdf