March 7, 2020

Christmas tree IPM Update 3.6.20

Happy spring!  It just started snowing again here but that’s still okay.

 

I’ve decided to expand (and also contract – good trick, huh?) the program I did last summer with some growers to send out information on scouting and treating for insect pests based on growing degree days.

 

You won’t get information specifically for the weather station you choose, but I will give information for 3 sites – Southold (the warmest), Geneva (somewhere in the middle) and Champlain (the coldest).  If you want to promote your site as the warmest or coldest, let me know.

 

GDD for March 6 – and the 5 day forecast for March 11

Southold              3                              3

Geneva                0                              0

Champlain           0                              0

 

I’m a little late as the earliest insects are out starting about 7 GDD. You need to be ready to scout and to treat if necessary.  (Sorry, Long Island!). We use 50F as the base temperature and calculate GDD starting March 1.

 

Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to go to the NEWA (Network for Environment and Weather Applications) site and find your best weather station.  http://newa.cornell.edu/index.php?page=station-pages (Click on New York under Station Pages if NY doesn’t open automatically).  When you click on the station name, you will get information on the site  – elevation might be important and you can compare the Daily Summary temperatures to what you have had at your farm.  Questions?  Send me a note.

 

So what should you be scouting for if GDD has started to accumulate in your area?

 

Spruce spider mite eggs (7-121) –  Scout for eggs on trees previously infested and the surrounding trees (fir, Doug fir, pine, spruce). Egg hatch is before bud break and often starts on the south side of the tree.  A dormant oil spray (not on blue spruce) should occur prior to egg hatch.

 

Elongate hemlock scale (7-120) – Check under scale covers for living scales on trees previously infested (fir, Doug fir, pine, spruce).  Remove heavily infested trees before bud break (and carefully – don’t spread scale to uninfested trees when moving them). You can use a dormant oil treatment for EHS.

 

White pine weevil (7-58) – Scout for adults on spruce, pine, Doug fir, occasionally fir – especially in areas where you have had it previously.  You can use Tedders traps with a lure.  An indication is soil temperatures above 50F on the sunny side of the tree. You can also look for droplets of sap on the leaders indicating feeding sites.  Treat top 1/3 of the tree when adults are first found.

 

Pales (7-121) and Eastern pine weevil (7-100) – Destroy stumps before adults emerge.  Remove cull piles and dying trees. Adults will also be attracted to Tedders traps. For Pales weevil, pull duff away from last year’s stumps to look for adults.  Pines, occasionally Doug fir and spruce.

 

Eriophyid mites (7-22) – Scout for eggs on branches with gray or rusty color.  Use dormant oil before bud break.

 

That should keep you off the streets!  Your records of where insects were last year are invaluable in making scouting easier this year!

February 22, 2018

Christmas tree IPM update 2.22.18

I hope you are all sitting with your feet up – briefly – until the scouting etc. season starts.

Or maybe now you are ready to get out there and get started for this year. The weather at the beginning of the week might have helped. But it was also warm enough that ticks were out questing. NYS IPM’s Joellen Lampman posted on our blog with lots of useful tick information

It’s also time to start planning . . .
WPS training requirements have changed. Be sure you know what is required in terms of who can do the training and how it must be presented. Lots of resources are available from the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative including the appropriate training videos

Don’t forget to sign up for Branching Out  There’s a clickable subscription form and more information.

And you can contact Sarah Pickel to get on her scouting email list from PA at c-sapickel@pa.gov (Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture | Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street | Hbg PA 17110, Phone: 717.772.5227 | Fax: 717.705.6518)

We are planning, too. Brian and Amara have been planning our new Christmas tree and beneficial insect habitat demonstration trials. They got the soil samples before the snow started again.

 

January 7, 2018

Christmas tree IPM Update 1.7.18

My good intentions for 2018? To get these updates out more regularly…. Unless there are NO pest issues, of course!

How was the season? How many customers mentioned the press on the thousands of microscopic insects supposedly infesting all the trees? Definitely an education for me on how inaccurate information can travel with the speed of a click!

Coming soon – the Christmas Tree Farmers’ Association of NY annual winter meeting in Syracuse, January 18-20. Lots of good information – and please visit the IPM table in the vendor area!

Michigan State is holding a Sustainable Nursery and Christmas Tree Production Webinar Series starting Jan 31. The webinars are $15 each or $40 for the series and will be recorded.

Now is a good time to get signed up for scouting reports and to learn how to find growing degree day (GDD) information on NEWA! Click the links for information!

Branching Out

Sarah Pickel’s PA Christmas Tree Scouting Report – contact her directly at c-sapickel@pa.gov

UMass Extension Landscape Message

NEWA GDD

 

We’ve got some projects coming along that relate to Christmas trees and nursery growers so I’ll keep you posted as they progress!

I hope you are all dug out and warmer than the last few days! Have a great week!

March 10, 2017

Greenhouse IPM update 3.10.17

Snow again!  And since they removed the Cornus mas from outside my window, I don’t have that friendly reminder of swelling buds to tell me spring is coming.  But it is, I know it IS!

Check those fertilizer injectors!  Who wants to find out they aren’t working by having plants show symptoms – and then trying to figure out why!  Thomas Ford in eGro says from his work “75% of the fertilizer injectors employed by growers in are greenhouses are not working properly”. We’ve already heard of one case in NY. Lots of information here.

Get the key to locking out pests (my, that’s kind of a stretch but it is Friday).  Leeane Pundt at UConn has a great post on key plants and key pests to help you inspect new plant material coming in and scouting it once it’s in your greenhouse.

Another on scouting guidelines and biocontrol options for the most common insects and diseases found in greenhouse crops.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words…illustrated scouting tips for lots of crops
Ornamental crops
Vegetable bedding plants
Herb bedding plants
Herbaceous perennials
Identifying pests and beneficials on sticky cards
Go UConn!

Think (no) thrips!  UMass’ post on reviewing thrips biocontrol 

Webinars and more webinars…
Our series on high tunnel and greenhouse vegetable IPM continues to grow.  The most recent one was just posted!

OMAFRA’s greenhouse vegetable IPM specialist on Heating, Lighting and IPM
March 30, 2017
Using biofungicides, biostimulants, and biofertilizers to boost crop productivity and help manage vegetable diseases – not just greenhouse but perhaps still useful!

Bees are still in the news!  One study from England I read said that most varieties surveyed in garden centers were unattractive to pollinators (actually measuring the number of visits by pollinators at the garden center itself).  While still low, those with some notation as being friendly to bees had 4x as many visits.  Hopefully this listing would fare better –  Bee friendly trees and shrubs

Yes, but can they learn to dust?  Bees are smarter than we thought – or else maybe they are training us.  Hmmm….

Courage in the face of cold!  It will be warm again!

September 13, 2016

Greenhouse IPM update 9.13.16

Ah, long falls – the climatic type, not the tripping down stairs type – and Indian summer….

I’ll start out with something just for pretty – we are (all?) plant geeks after all –
You can come visit the new conservatory when you are on campus!

Those new WPS rules – need help?  DEC is running some mock WPS inspections in October to help.  Oct 5 at Dickman Farms in Auburn, 9:30-12:00. No registration fee and no need to pre-register.  2 DEC credits for 1a, 1d, 10, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.  Oct 19 in Riverhead and Oct 26th in Lockport. Let me know if you need more information.

ProMix/Premier Tech Grower Videos – some useful topics like roles of nutrients in plant growth, calibrating pH and EC meters, and how to determine if your media is too old.

Tunnel Vision – what’s going on in tunnels these days?
Need something different in your high tunnels or greenhouses?  Try TunnelBerries (not sure if that is a great marketing name…).  Production guides, economics, and how to build and even recycle the plastic from tunnels.  (Check out the blog and you can find Cornell’s Marvin Pritts pictured)

And the University of Kentucky has a new IPM Scouting Guide for High Tunnel and Greenhouse Vegetable Crops.

September is flying by – still have plants to get in the garden!

Have a great week!