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Two female and 1 male SWD were caught on June 23, 2016 in traps set in a summer and fall raspberry planting in Ulster County. Traps at this site are being monitored by Jim O'Connell, Ulster County Cornell Cooperative Extension and Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

FemaleSWD_2016_UlsterBecause summer raspberry was ripening at this site, 25 fruit were examined for the presence of egg laying. Only one egg was found in one of the 25 fruit. This indicates that there is a low level of fruit infestation in the summer raspberry crop.

If summer raspberry are ripe or ripening, it may be prudent to begin a management program for SWD. This year, due to the early arrival of SWD in New York, it is likely that summer raspberry will be vulnerable to fruit infestation. More information on SWD management is available on the Cornell Fruit Resources SWD page.

Two female SWD were caught on June 21, 2016 in two of four traps set in a raspberry planting in Wayne County. These traps are being monitored by Juliet Carroll, fruit IPM coordinator, and Nicole Mattoon, IPM technician, with the NY State IPM Program. Raspberries in the planting are not yet ripe. The two traps were set on the edge of the planting. Two other traps, set within the crop, caught no SWD.

Three female SWD were caught on June 21, 2016 in two of four traps set in a raspberry planting in Albany County. These traps are being monitored by Laura McDermott, extension specialist, and Annie Mills, field technician, with the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension. The traps that caught the SWD were set within the crop. The other two traps, set in a hedgerow of mostly sumac next to the planting, caught no SWD.

A single SWD female was caught in Niagara County on Friday, June 17, 2016 by Tess Grasswitz, IPM Specialist, and Liz Tee, Technician, Lake Ontario Fruit Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension. The trap was on the edge of a blueberry field in wild trees and shrubs. The blueberries in the planting are not yet ripe.

A single female was caught in a blueberry planting in Ontario County in a trap that is part of the SWD monitoring network on June 16, 2016. The blueberry fruit at this site is not yet ripe. This report comes in from Gabrielle Brind'Amour, who works with Dr. Greg Loeb's small fruit entomology research program at Cornell University, Geneva, NY. No other traps being monitored in Ontario County by this team caught SWD.

SWD capture was sustained this week in Suffolk County at the blueberry planting. A total of 4 SWD were caught in traps checked on June 15, 2016. Dr. Faruque Zaman, Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension and Long Island Horticutural Research and Extension Center, has two traps (one set on the crop border row and one set within the crop) in each of four crops: (1) blueberry, where he has now seen sustained capture of SWD, (2) blackberry, (3) summer raspberry, and (4) grape. Only in the grape traps was SWD not caught this week.

In blackberry, both traps caught a total of five SWD. In summer raspberry, both traps caught SWD—4 females and 1 male in the border trap and 1 female and 1 male in the trap in the planting. This summer raspberry planting has <1% ripe fruit. A collection of 30 nearly ripe fruit (see picture) were examined in the laboratory for egg laying sites and none were found.

A sample of 30 summer raspberry fruit were checked in the laboratory for SWD breathing tubes, which are indicative of egg laying sites, and none were found.
A sample of 30 summer raspberry fruit were checked in the laboratory for SWD breathing tubes, which are indicative of egg laying sites, and none were found.

Growers, extension educators, and consultants are advised that because this is an early year for SWD arrival in New York. It will be very important to check summer raspberry and blueberry fruit for signs of SWD infestation in order to time the beginning of insecticide sprays, rather than relying solely on trap captures. For late season maturing fruit (fall raspberry, late season blueberry, elderberry, day neutral strawberry, blackberry, stone fruit and susceptible grape varieties) it will likely prove to be a very challenging year for SWD management.

 

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.

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

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
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