A single female SWD was caught in one of four traps set in a fall raspberry planting in Ulster County during the week ending June 21, 2018. This trap was set on the edge of the planting next to a blueberry field. A second site in Ulster County with four traps caught zero SWD this week. Jim O'Connell, Ulster County Cornell Cooperative Extension, is monitoring these traps.
Scentry SWD trap set in a tart cherry. Fruit are coloring and will soon be ripe for harvest.
Summer raspberries, early season blueberries, sweet and tart cherries are starting to ripen across New York. Depending on variety and location, some sweet cherry blocks are ripe.
As fruit ripens and SWD shows up, it's time to prepare to protect fruit with the best of cultural practices and an insecticide program.
Once fruit is ripe, begin an insecticide program to protect fruit from infestation. More on management tactics can be found on the Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management page.
One female SWD was caught in a trap set in a sweet cherry orchard in Columbia County during the week ending June 18, 2018. Three other traps at that orchard, two on the orchard edge and another within the orchard, caught zero SWD. These traps are being monitored by technician Natasha Field, working with Laura McDermott and the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program. This cherry block is an early variety and is starting to color.
Two female SWD were caught in traps set in a raspberry planting in Schuyler County during the week ending June 18, 2018. Two other traps set on the edge of the planting and four other traps in an adjacent blueberry planting caught zero SWD. These traps are being monitored by Nicole Mattoon and Ryan Parker, technicians working with Juliet Carroll in the NYS IPM Program. Raspberry fruit are still green at this location.
Distribution of SWD trap catch in the Cornell Cooperative Extension SWD trap network as of June 18, 2018.
SWD numbers are still low to non-existent across the Cornell Cooperative Extension SWD trap network trapping locations. Fruit is still, for the most part, immature. However, June strawberry season is underway and a few ripe raspberries were seen in a planting of selections from Courtney Weber's small fruit breeding program, Horticulture, Cornell University.
Once fruit is ripe, it will be important to put a spray program into place. Recent research in Washington State on modeling population growth of SWD suggests that spraying with the most efficacious material early on will knock down the population, slow population growth over time, and make for easier control, possibly with fewer sprays (thus less costly) as the season progresses.
As with any management program, the more cultural tactics that are in place to thwart SWD, the better:
clean harvesting
removing overripe and damaged fruit
mowing and weed control
pruned and open canopies
judicious irrigation; no leaking irrigation equipment
postharvest cooling and refrigeration at around 32° to 33° F
A single male was found the week ending June 11, 2018 in one of four traps set in a red raspberry planting in Cayuga County. The trap that caught the male SWD was set in the interior of the 8-row planting. These traps are being monitored by Nicole Mattoon and Ryan Parker, with Juliet Carroll, Fruit IPM Coordinator, in the NYS IPM Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Red raspberry fruit at this site are still green and, therefore, not at risk of infestation. However, next to the raspberry planting are ripening June strawberries. June strawberry typically escapes injury from SWD in New York. This may be because populations are low to non-existent during the June strawberry harvest season. Another reason June strawberries may escape SWD injury could be the use of insecticides to control other insects, such as spittlebug, tarnished plant bug, or strawberry sap beetle.
Green fruit on raspberry aren't susceptible to SWD.
As raspberry fruits develop and ripen, take time to mow row middles, eliminate weeds from within the row, and thin canes as described in the blog on pruning caneberries. All these tactics will reduce humidity in the planting, increase sun penetration, hasten drying of foliage and fruit, and promote spray penetration. SWD prefer humid environments.
Most counties reporting in the SWD network have zero SWD captures (gray color) as of June 6, 2018.
As of 6 June 2018, no new reports of SWD trap captures in raspberry or blueberry from across the network have come in. All the NYS IPM Program's traps checked so far this week in tart cherry had zero SWD, including the site that had two females last week. In a research site where we are monitoring 36 traps in 1.5 acres of raspberries, zero SWD have been caught. Very low populations of SWD and no sustained catch has occurred to date.
One male SWD has been caught during the week starting May 16 and ending May 22 in one of four traps set in a blueberry planting in Erie County. The trap that caught the SWD was on the edge of the planting next to a woody hedgerow. Sharon Bachman, Erie County Cornell Cooperative Extension, sent in this information today for the traps she is monitoring.
Given the relatively mild winter, we were concerned about SWD being found in NY fruit plantings early this year.
All the traps my program is monitoring, in Cayuga, Onondaga, Schuyler, and Wayne Counties, in berries and tart cherries had zero SWD caught for this week.
If there's no fruit starting to color, there's no need for an insecticide spray.
Be vigilant this year with your June strawberries. Look for rough patches of slightly sunken areas on fruit that appear dull red in color. Later maturing varieties may be at risk this year.
More information on SWD? Consult Cornell Fruit Resources' spotted wing pages, http://fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/.
We have a great SWD monitoring network set up this year in Cornell Cooperative Extension! Traps will be set in 24 counties at 36 locations with a total of 122 traps.
Faruque Zaman will be monitoring in Suffolk County, Long Island. Laura McDermott, Amy Ivy, and Natasha Field will be monitoring in the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program region. Peter Jentsch will be working with Laura McDermott in the lower Hudson Valley. Jim O'Connell will be monitoring in Ulster County. Bernie Armata will be monitoring in Herkimer County. Shona Ort will be monitoring in Chemung County. Dave Thorp will be monitoring in Livingston County. Don Gasiewicz will be monitoring in Wyoming County. Tess Grasswitz will be monitoring in the Lake Ontario Fruit Program region. Sharon Bachman will be monitoring in Erie County. I'll be monitoring in Cayuga, Onondaga, Schuyler, and Wayne Counties.
Funding to support this effort comes from Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations and regional programs, the NYS IPM Program, and the NYS Berry Growers Association.
Peter Jenstch, Entomology, Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, Greg Loeb, Entomology, Cornell AgriTech, Paul Hetzler, St. Lawrence County, and others may have research sites that may report findings to the blog.
I will also be monitoring SWD in seven tart cherry orchards in the Lake Ontario and Finger Lakes regions.
SWD findings will be reported to this blog and posted to the SWD NY distribution map. Given the mild winter, it may prove to be an early year for SWD arrival and build up.
