One female SWD was caught the week ending June 23, 2017 in a trap placed at the edge of a blueberry planting in Washington County. This information is from Annie Mills, field technician with Laura McDermott, Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Many reports are coming in of first catch of SWD. Make sure your berry planting row middles are kept mowed, weeds are kept down within the rows, and plantings are pruned to allow sunlight penetration and good air circulation. Monitor the planting for ripening and ripe fruit. The berries at this site were close to being ripe last Monday, June 19. The majority of the planting is at late green fruit with just a few clusters/plants at fruit coloring.
In Albany County on June 19, 2017, traps checked at a summer raspberry planting had 8 SWD, 1 female and 4 males in traps on the edge and 1 female and 2 males in traps within the crop. This farm site has a U-pick strawberry field adjacent to the raspberries, as well as a blueberry planting. SWD management at this location relies on sanitation - picking fruit heavily: clean picking and removing unmarketable fruit from the planting.
Probable SWD female on a day neutral or everbearing strawberry fruit. Unripe fruit, in upper left, are not susceptible to oviposition. Photo taken in early September, 2013.
A typical pattern of SWD monitoring in June strawberries has been that little to no SWD are found, either in traps set in June strawberries or infesting June strawberries, which may not be an optimal host. When June strawberries are mowed after harvest, SWD shows up in raspberry traps set in plantings adjacent to the strawberries.
Because of early SWD arrival this year and optimal weather conditions for SWD—warm, wet, and cloudy—it is advisable to monitor your June strawberry crop and practice clean picking. More on SWD management is on Cornell Fruit ResourcesSWD pages.
In Niagara County during the week ending June 21, 2017, 2 SWD females were caught in traps set in a blueberry planting both within and on the edge of the crop. In addition, 1 female was caught this week at another site in Niagara County in a trap set within a red raspberry planting. There are four traps at each of these locations. These are the first SWD caught this season in this county. These traps are being monitored by Tess Grasswitz, IPM Specialist on the Lake Ontario Fruit Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Blueberry fruit at this developmental stage is not yet susceptible to SWD infestation. When fruit is fully pink and turning blue, it is at risk.
The blueberries and raspberries at these sites are not ripe. The red raspberries are starting to show color, but are still hard. The focus now should be on opening up the canopy, maintaining weed control, and mowing row middles and field edges. These tactics will improve air circulation, sunlight penetration, and improve insecticide spray deposition on fruit for when your insecticide spray program begins. More on SWD management is on Cornell Fruit Resources SWD pages.
There were 3 females found on June 20, 2017 in one of four traps set in summer raspberries in Schuyler County. The trap was set within the planting and the fruit are ripening. The risk of SWD infestation to summer fruit will likely be significant this year. Four traps set in an adjacent blueberry planting where the fruit are still green caught no SWD.
These traps are being checked weekly by Nicole Mattoon and Taylere Herrmann who work with Juliet Carroll, Fruit IPM Coordinator, NYS IPM Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Female SWD on a raspberry.
It is time to think strategically about all the management practices that can thwart this invasive pest. Use several tactics. Manage weeds and mow row middles. Protect the crop with insecticides. Use sanitation. Maintain a cold chain to slow or stop development of SWD in fruit.
For summer raspberries - in July, prune out the smallest primocanes, beginning when they are 12 to 18 inches high to select and keep the biggest and best canes for next year. Begin removing spent floricanes in July along with any late emerging primocanes. Maintain 4 or 5 healthy floricanes per foot of row.
One female SWD was found on June 14, 2017 in a blueberry planting. Four traps were set at this location on June 7 and one of the two within the planting caught the female. The blueberries at this location are green and lingering bloom was still evident on some plants this week.
Two male SWD on a blueberry, photographed in early September 2013. SWD populations typically build to very high levels in late summer and early autumn.
These traps are being monitored by Nicole Mattoon, field technician, and Taylere Herrmann, summer technician, in Juliet Carroll's fruit IPM program with the NYS IPM Program.
Keep tabs on your fruit crops. When fruit harvests begin, monitor fruit for SWD infestation, keep fruit cold post-harvest, and know the best practices for managing SWD.
Single SWD were found at two monitoring locations in Tioga County. One female on June 13, 2017 in a trap set outside of a raspberry high tunnel planting. One male, also on June 13, 2017 in a trap set within a fall raspberry field. The traps were set on June 8 and are being monitored by Margaret Ball, extension educator, Tioga County Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Male SWD on raspberry fruit. Note dimpling on the fruitlet in the upper left corner of the photo - indicative of fruit infestation.
The pattern of SWD population buildup is typically slow to start, with exponential growth in mid- to late summer. Low level infestations of SWD are difficult to spot. Fruit that is ripe and ripening at this time includes strawberries, day neutral and June bearing, sweet cherries and early maturing blueberries. Of these I'm only aware of strawberries being harvested at this time.
Make sure to scout your susceptible fruit crops for symptoms and signs of SWD infestation and take routine samples of fruit to check for larvae with salt flotation. The Spotted Wing Drosophila pages in Cornell Fruit Resources have more information on SWD, including tips on management.
A single male SWD was caught in a trap placed at the edge of a blackberry planting in an orchard in Saratoga County, during the week ending on June 13, 2017 .
Live SWD male, note spot on each wing.
This was one of 4 traps being monitored at this site (the other three traps caught no SWD). The report comes in from Annie Mills, field technician with Laura McDermott, extension educator with the Eastern NY Commercial Fruit Program.
There was a raspberry planting nearby in previous years. This was taken out and new raspberries were planted next to the blackberry planting. No fruit on the raspberries yet and the blackberries are currently still in bloom.
On June 6, 2017 one female SWD was identified in a monitoring network trap set last week in the wild shrubs at the edge of a red raspberry planting in Orleans County. This report is coming in from Tess Grasswitz, entomologist and educator with the Lake Ontario Fruit Regional Extension Program. She checked another set of SWD traps in raspberries and one set in blueberries (both in Niagara county), which were negative for SWD.
Stay tuned and stay prepared.
Insecticide sprays are not warranted unless fruit is ripe. Please keep close watch on June strawberries this year, as it appears to be an early year for SWD and a slow year for crop development, which may place this crop at risk. More on SWD management coming soon.
On June 7, 2017, 3 female and 1 male SWD were identified in a monitoring network trap set on June 1st in the border row near the wooded edge of a blueberry planting in Suffolk County. The other trap inside the same blueberry field, as well as traps in other locations (raspberry, blackberry, and grape) did not catch any SWD. This is the first catch in Suffolk County, Long Island in this season. Faruque Zaman, entomologist and educator with Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center sent in this report.
A comprehensive blog on SWD management will be posted today, also. In most locations in New York, raspberries are beginning to flower, blueberries have just set fruit, and June strawberries are just beginning to ripen.
Monitoring of SWD in New York has begun! Twelve Cornell Cooperative Extension programs and 13 extension scientists are cooperating this year. Some research sites may also be included in the mix, courtesy of the programs of Greg Loeb at the NY State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY and Peter Jentsch at the Hudson Valley Laboratory in Highland, NY. Below are listed the Extension personnel who are monitoring SWD in New York in 2017.
Participants and counties included in the 2017 SWD monitoring network.
Traps will be set in 21 counties. Based on research results comparing various lures, we are using the Scentry trap and lure for our monitoring network, as we did in 2016. We’ll post trap catch reports to this blog and enter them into the SWD distribution map.
Monitoring SWD traps in 2013 - trap is a simple plastic container with apple cider vinegar. Current traps and lures are more selective for SWD than this trap was.
Our Cornell Fruit Resources website is being launched in a new format and location this week. We are doing our best to redirect you to those resources from within the new site. Some of those pages contain SWD information. As that information is revised for 2017, I’ll post it on the SWD blog and include the new link.
Reports of early trap catch this year are coming in from Michigan. However, fruit is not susceptible until it is close to fully ripe. Currently, June strawberry fruit is green, early blueberries have just set fruit and raspberries are just starting to bloom. No risk of SWD infestation at this time.
Growers interested in monitoring for SWD in their berry plantings can contact me for information and tips, Juliet Carroll, Fruit IPM Coordinator, jec3@cornell.edu.
My upcoming blog will be a review of IPM tactics for SWD in berries. Stay tuned and stay prepared.
