Sustained catch in Columbia, Clinton, Orange, & Wayne Counties

Sustained SWD catch in Eastern NY — Columbia County 5 SWD, Clinton County 5 SWD, & Orange County 36 SWD — and Wayne County 4 SWD. Berries and cherries are being harvested and will continue ripening over the next several weeks. Risk from SWD infestation will be high from this point forward in the growing season.

Monitor your crops for infestation by sampling fruit at each harvest period and doing a salt flotation test. Methods described in Guidelines for Checking Fruit for SWD Larvae in the Field by Laura McDermott, available on Cornell Fruit Resources SWD pages, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/.

Picture of a raspberry fruit with tiny breathing tube threads where an egg is inserted under the skin. — Tiny threads of the SWD egg breathing tubes indicate where an egg was laid in a raspberry. Two eggs were found in 40 fruits examined.

Pay attention to SWD -- look for symptoms of leaky fruit; flat, sunken, & dull spots or dimples on the fruit surfaces; or distorted & disintegrating fruit. Protect ripe and ripening fruit crops from infestation with an insecticide program.

Details about each County's sustained catch:

Orange: 6/14/2019, 23 females & 3 males, raspberry & gooseberry – total 36
Columbia: 7/8/2019, 4 females & 1 male, tart cherry – total 5
Clinton: 7/9/2019, 3 females & 2 males, blueberry – total 5
Wayne: 7/9/2019, 3 females & 1 male, raspberry – total 4

The sustained catch report in Orange County was a month ago! This report slipped my attention, but it underlines that SWD has been found in many fruit plantings for upwards of a month now.

The sustained catch in Columbia County of only 5 SWD in the tart cherries after the prior week’s catch of 32 underlines the impact of an insecticide program on SWD populations and trap catch.

Refer to the insecticide quick guides online. Choose a material with excellent efficacy against SWD and an appropriate days-to-harvest interval.

SWD Insecticides for Berries, www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/berry-insecticides.pdf

SWD Insecticides for Stone Fruit & Grapes, www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/treefruit-grape-insecticides.pdf

Thank you for monitoring SWD in the Counties with sustained catch!

Andy Galimberti, CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program (Clinton County)
Natasha Field, CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program (Columbia County)
Nate Mengaziol and Laura McDermott, CCE of Orange County and Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program (Orange County)
Ryan Parker and Juliet Carroll, CCE NYS IPM Program (Wayne County)

Leave a Reply