I hope you are all enjoying this lovely day.  Might even make shearing pleasant.

I had a conversation with NEWA’s Dan Olmstead (the advantage of going to coffee break in the Geneva NYS IPM office!) and learned some useful news.

First – If you come to the Beneficial Habitat Twilight on Sept 26 (more info below) you can see the sensors we have in the Christmas trees that Dan is using to look at microclimates.  The idea is that with a base station, you could also have sensors in different parts of the field that might indicate that some pest management needs to start sooner in certain areas.  For what we are doing with GDD and Christmas tree pests, the GDD ranges are big enough that it might not make too much difference, but it could be an ‘early warning’ system.  Dan is going to get some information together for us to hand out at the meeting.

Second – It sounds like there will soon be less expensive base stations that still connect to NEWA.  You can always have your own independent weather station with just the measurements you need, but the advantage of being connected is seeing what is coming by looking at areas that warm sooner.

Third – NEWA is going to trial some kind of automated email system connected to pest models.  Maybe it will email you every day and give you information on the models you select.  The emails probably won’t be as rambling as mine, but they would come on a more standard schedule.  I’m working on him to use Christmas tree growers as a trial group, but that means I need to get all the models in.

And the advertisement – we are holding a Twilight meeting on September 26 from 5-7 in our Christmas tree plot at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva (what used to be called the Experiment Station).  We are primarily talking about the beneficial habitat plots – with Amara Dunn, Jason Dombroskie, and Maria van Dyke speaking about beneficials and the potential of habitat plots to provide pest management in the trees – but you can see how we are doing with the trees, too.  $15 gets you all the speakers, AND pizza. 1.5 Dec Pesticide Recertification Credits are available in categories 1a, 3a, 10, 24 and 25.  We are working on our registration page so you should see that pop up next week.

So what is happening right now?  Not much change.

Spruce spider mite – 2375- 2806 GDD

Doug fir needle midge – remove heavily infested trees (carefully so you don’t spread the pest) before larvae exit the needles (needles will turn brown). Mark     infested trees for placing traps in the spring

Elongate hemlock scale – keep scouting for crawlers.

Cooley spruce gall adelgid – prune out galls on spruce before they turn brown (about 1850)

Cryptomeria scale crawlers – 1750-2130 GDD

Japanese beetle adults – 1029-2154 GDD

Two spotted spider mites– 1300-2000 GDD

Pine needle scale 2^nd generation– 1290-1917 GDD

Have a great week!

I think this is the first time I have done the reading 5 days apart – which it how far out the prediction goes.  The predictions are remarkably good.  Most are no more than 10 points out (max was 20) and only one was lower than predicted by a few points.

Check out some other tools. The Climate Smart Farming GDD calculator lets you put in your address or click on the map for a location. I’m not sure where they get their data from and how it is calculated to a specific site.  My house in Ithaca is almost 100 GDD points lower than the campus location – but that is probably correct.  You can also put in several locations and compare them.

It is aimed more at crop development – for example, you can put in a planting date and the GDD Base that is the default is 50/86 as it is based on the fact that crops don’t develop much under 50 F and over 86 F.  You can choose other bases

By comparison, in the NEWA system we’ve been using I selected a March 1 start date, not because of planting but because we usually don’t have much insect development before that and the GDD accumulated in a spring thaw throws things off a bit.  Also, we use the GDD base of 50F with no upper limit – which isn’t perfect at very high temperatures, either.

The CSF system lets you put in a GDD target – for example, if you knew the second generation of spruce spider mites is expected to start at GDD 2375, you could put in a target of 2200 to give yourself some leeway and it will indicate for each site >2 weeks to target, <2 weeks to target or target has been reached.

Try it out!

There are several other tools under the Tools tab. An interesting one tells you climate change for your county since 1950 with a variety of different measures. http://climatesmartfarming.org/tools/csf-county-climate-change/

A few new things to add:

Spruce spider mite – 2375- 2806 GDD (notice how I worked that in above 😊 ) – for a few of you on Long Island

Doug fir needle midge – remove heavily infested trees (carefully so you don’t spread the pest) before larvae exit the needles (needles will turn

brown)

Mark infested trees for placing traps in the spring

And the others just keep rolling on:

Elongate hemlock scale – keep scouting for crawlers.

Cooley spruce gall adelgid – prune out galls on spruce before they turn brown (about 1850)

Cryptomeria scale crawlers – 1750-2130 GDD

Japanese beetle adults – 1029-2154 GDD

Two spotted spider mites– 1300-2000 GDD

Pine needle scale 2^nd generation– 1290-1917 GDD

Have a great week!

Well, today’s thunder monsoon just went through campus.  What an odd year we are having!

From the questions I am getting, some of you are definitely scouting. Congratulations! It certainly isn’t easy but it is the basis for effective pest management.  Keep notes where you see problems so you know where to look next year.

Yesterday at Empire Farm Days (no Christmas tree growers ☹) I did a lot of talking about ticks (we have a new livestock preferring one in the Hudson Valley) and spotted lanternfly.  The lanternfly does have implications for Christmas tree growers – for seedlings and for cut trees coming in to the state.  Do you know how to check for the lanternfly?  You can learn all about it at a conference on August 15 in Binghamton – for more information go to: https://nysipm.cornell.edu/resources/nys-ipm-conferences/spotted-lanternfly-our-doorstep/

Question went out to the CCE diagnostic list-serve. Are you seeing more poison ivy this year?  While there is research saying that poison ivy thrives with higher CO2 levels, it might just be the adequate moisture (or more than adequate) this spring.

No changes on what you should be looking for based on GDD.

Elongate hemlock scale – keep scouting for crawlers.

Cooley spruce gall adelgid – prune out galls on spruce before they turn brown

Cryptomeria scale crawlers – 1750-2130 GDD

Japanese beetle adults – 1029-2154 GDD

Two spotted spider mites– 1300-2000 GDD

Pine needle scale 2^nd generation– 1290-1917 GDD

Have a great week!

Did I fall off the planet?  Just want to get to August before I emailed again?  Nope – 2 programs on greenhouse IPM plus prep and (partial) clean up.

But I’m back now!  Good thing it is a week where there wasn’t much different from last week.

Pennsylvania has a great resource that you can download (or buy a hard copy). Google “Integrated Pest Management for Christmas Tree Production” and look for the pdf version.

Spruce spider mite usually reappears later when it is cooler, but I just learned from my Branching Out that they have been finding populations earlier than expected – so scout for them where you usually see them.

If you have Doug fir, scout for the immature fluffy white Cooley spruce gall adelgid or winged adults coming from the pineapple shaped galls on spruce.  Treat Doug fir at 1500-1775 GDD and blue spruce at 1850-1950 GDD.  And make a note to get the galls off earlier next year!

Thanks, Dawn! (editor of Branching Out)

Here’s how to get your own copy:  https://branchingout.cornell.edu/

Things to do this week:

Elongate hemlock scale – keep scouting for crawlers.

Cooley spruce gall adelgid – prune out galls on spruce before they turn

Cryptomeria scale crawlers – 1750-2130 GDD

Japanese beetle adults – 1029-2154 GDD

Two spotted spider mites– 1300-2000 GDD

Pine needle scale 2^nd generation– 1290-1917 GDD