Category: 2019 trap network

Three female SWD were caught in traps set on the edge of and within a blueberry planting in Clinton County. These traps, checked on July 2, 2019, are being monitored by Andy Galimberti, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

About 85% of the counties in the CCE SWD Monitoring Network have caught SWD in traps. Two more counties have been added to the network in recent weeks – Herkimer and Tioga.

Numbers caught in traps, especially in Eastern NY are starting to climb, with totals in the double and triple digits. Fruit is ripe and will continue ripening over the next several weeks and be at risk of infestation.

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/.

Plan your insecticide program.

• SWD population growth models theoretically calculate that using the most efficacious insecticide first will more efficiently lower SWD numbers by knocking the population back to close to zero and delaying population growth.
• Review the Quick Guide to SWD Insecticides online at:

www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/berry-insecticides.pdf for berries

www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/treefruit-grape-insecticides.pdf for stone fruit and grapes

• Rotate use among insecticides with different IRAC groups to reduce selection pressure for resistant populations of SWD.

For two weeks in a row, June 25 (2 males and 1 female) and July 2, 2019 (1 female and 1 male), SWD has been caught in raspberry in Niagara County. Traps are being monitored by Liz Tee, Cornell Cooperative Extension Lake Ontario Commercial Fruit Program.

Once SWD is found on the farm and fruit are ripe, protect the crop with insecticide sprays. Refer to the quick reference guides for:

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

Monitor fruit for infestation by SWD using salt flotation. 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/.

Other management tactics that can help are:

• Sanitation – pick off and remove all cull fruit from the planting.
• Mowing – keep the environment hot, sunny, and dry.
• Weed management – keep the environment hot, sunny and dry, and provide no alternate hosts.
• Pruning – keep the environment hot, sunny, and dry, and improve spray penetration and deposition.
• Cold storage – place harvested fruit into a cooler at 32°-34° F ASAP and hold it there to kill larvae and eggs. Berries can tolerate 32° F storage conditions.

For two weeks in a row, SWD has been caught on berry farms in Cayuga and Schuyler Counties. Traps were checked on June 27, 2019 by Ryan Parker, Cornell Cooperative Extension NYS IPM Program. The Schuyler County site is a blueberry farm where fruit are still green and hard — not susceptible — only one female was caught there, in a trap set on the edge of the planting. In Cayuga County about 1% of the raspberries are ripe for picking, and 2 females and 1 male were caught in a trap set within the planting.

Once SWD is found on the farm and fruit are ripe, it is important to protect the crop with insecticide sprays. Refer to the quick reference guides for:

• SWD Insecticides for Berries
• SWD Insecticides for Stone Fruit & Grapes

Other tactics that can help are:

1. Sanitation – pick off and remove all cull fruit from the planting.
2. Mowing – keep the environment hot, sunny, and dry.
3. Weed management – keep the environment hot, sunny and dry, and provide no alternate hosts.
4. Pruning – keep the environment hot, sunny, and dry, and improve spray penetration and deposition.
5. Cold storage – immediately after harvest, place harvested fruit into a cooler at 32°-34° F and hold it there, to kill larvae and eggs, until sold.

SWD numbers caught in traps, especially in Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and the Capital District are starting to climb up with totals nearing double digits. And, just in, first trap catch on June 27, 2019 at one of three sites in Schuyler County, Finger Lakes, totaled 10 females in a raspberry planting that has 10-20% ripe fruit. Ripening fruit will be at risk of infestation. It's time to pay attention to SWD and protect ripe and ripening fruit crops from infestation.

• SWD management
• SWD monitoring
• Crops of concern
• SWD identification
• NY distribution map

Details about each County's sustained catch:

• Suffolk: 6/20/2019, 5 females & 3 males, blueberry – total 8
• Suffolk: 6/27/2019, 6 females & 4 males, raspberry – total 10
• Saratoga: 6/27/2019, 5 females & 1 male, blackberry – total 6
• Schenectady: 6/27/2019, 4 females & 3 males, blueberry – total 7

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

• Faruque Zaman, Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and Long Island Horticultural Research & Extension Laboratory
• Natasha Field and Laura McDermott, CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program (Saratoga and Schenectady Counties)

Two female SWD were caught in traps set on the edge of a raspberry planting in Essex County. These traps, checked on June 26, 2019, are being monitored by Andy Galimberti, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

Only six of the 25 counties in the CCE SWD Monitoring Network haven’t found SWD in traps yet. Numbers caught in traps are starting to climb up with totals nearing double digits, especially in Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and the Capital District. Fruit will be ripening over the next several weeks and then be at risk of infestation. Strawberry harvest is underway. Sweet cherries will soon be ripe.

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, http://fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/.

Quick Guides to SWD Insecticides are at

• www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/berry-insecticides.pdf for berries
• www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/berry-insecticides.pdf for stone fruit and grapes

One female SWD was caught in a trap set in the hedgerow by a blueberry and raspberry planting in Wyoming County, also near a strawberry field. These traps, checked on June 26, 2019, are being monitored by Donald Gasiewicz, Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Wyoming County.

Diversified fruit farms — Prepare yourselves for SWD! If you’re growing susceptible fruit - sweet cherries, tart cherries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, blueberries, June strawberries, day-neutral strawberries, thin-skinned grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes. If you have a diversified fruit farm, consider that SWD will spill over into other fruit, for example, when you renovate your strawberry planting, or when you stop harvesting a crop and leave the cull fruit in the field.

Fruit becomes susceptible to SWD oviposition when it is ripening and is highly susceptible when it is ripe — raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, sweet cherry, tart cherry, elderberry. Fruit that is less susceptible will be attacked when it is at peak ripeness — peach, nectarine, plum, prune, strawberry. All fruit can serve as a resource for feeding and breeding when it is left for cull in the field. The good news is that, in degraded fruit, SWD doesn't compete all that well with other fruit flies, like Drosophila melanogaster, our common fruit fly, which often shows up in our kitchens in late summer or in the winery during press. SWD prefers nice ripe fruit — like we do!

Comprehensive information on SWD IPM is available in the IPM Guides from the NE IPM Center SWD Working Group:

Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM in Blueberries
neipmc.org/go/swdpub2

Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM in Raspberries & Blackberries
neipmc.org/go/swdpub1

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/. Refer to the Cornell Guidelines, cropandpestguides.cce.cornell.edu/. Commercial fruit growers should have the 2019 versions of the Berry Crops, Tree Fruit, or Grape Guidelines.

For three weeks in a row, SWD has been caught at a farm in Chemung County. This week (June 26) two females and two males, and last week (June 19) one female, were caught in four traps set in a blueberry planting. Some of those SWD were caught in traps set in raspberries on this farm this week, as well. These traps are being monitored by Shona Ort, Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Chemung County. Neither the blueberries nor raspberries are ripe yet.

Shona and the farmer may have identified a possible source of SWD on the farm. Strawberries are planted near the blueberries and the woods. The grower hasn’t been able to pick the strawberries, because they have been … “just rotting in the rain and weeds.”

Sanitation can be very beneficial in IPM!

Sanitation eliminates SWD food and egg-laying resources and slows population growth. Cull fruit can be placed in clear plastic bags and left in the sun to bake or placed in a freezer to kill SWD larvae. Careful when timing mowing or renovation of strawberry fields so as to reduce movement of SWD into the next ripening crop on your farm. See last year’s blog on strawberry renovation, https://blogs.cornell.edu/swd1/2018/06/27/renovate-strawberry-plantings-promptly/.

Three female SWD were caught in the trap set in Amelanchier (also known as juneberry) growing in the hedgerow by a blueberry planting in Rensselaer County. These traps, checked on June 24, 2019, are being monitored by Laura McDermott, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

Early blueberry varieties are beginning to show blush of color. This signals they’re entering a susceptible stage when female SWD can slice through the skin to lay their eggs inside the fruit. So, plan to protect your blueberry crop accordingly!

Comprehensive information on SWD IPM is available in the IPM Guide from the NE IPM Center SWD Working Group:

Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM in Blueberries
neipmc.org/go/swdpub2

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/.

Refer to the Cornell Guidelines, cropandpestguides.cce.cornell.edu/. Commercial growers should have the 2019 versions of the Berry Crops, Tree Fruit, or Grape Guidelines.

There are 16 sites out of 25 sites (64%) in the monitoring network that have caught SWD. Numbers caught, even at sustained catch, are still relatively low. However, fruit will be ripening over the next several weeks and then be at risk of infestation.

Five females and one male SWD were caught in four traps set in a raspberry planting. Wow! That’s enough females to lay about 1750 eggs over the next few weeks. These traps, checked on June 24, 2019, are being monitored by Crystal Stewart and Natasha Field, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

Raspberries are not yet ripe at this location. BUT — when they are they will be prime targets for SWD infestation. Raspberries are just about the most susceptible fruit crop grown in New York State.

Comprehensive information on SWD IPM is available in the IPM Guide from the NE IPM Center SWD Working Group:

Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM in Raspberries & Blackberries
neipmc.org/go/swdpub1

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/. Refer to the Cornell Guidelines, cropandpestguides.cce.cornell.edu/. Commercial growers should have the 2019 versions of the Berry Crops, Tree Fruit, or Grape Guidelines.

Download the quick reference guide for berry insecticides labeled for use against SWD and plan accordingly:
www.hort.cornell.edu/fruit/pdfs/swd/berry-insecticides.pdf

One female SWD was caught in one of four traps set in a raspberry planting. These traps, checked on June 24, 2019, are being monitored by Crystal Stewart and Natasha Field, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

Raspberries are not yet ripe at this location, but when they ripen, they will be at risk of infestation by SWD! Comprehensive information on SWD IPM is available in the IPM Guide from the NE IPM Center SWD Working Group:

Spotted Wing Drosophila IPM in Raspberries & Blackberries
neipmc.org/go/swdpub1

Consult Cornell Fruit Resources SWD Management, fruit.cornell.edu/spottedwing/management/. Refer to the Cornell Guidelines, http://cropandpestguides.cce.cornell.edu/. Commercial growers should have the 2019 versions of the Berry Crops, Tree Fruit, or Grape Guidelines.

There are 16 sites out of 25 sites (64%) in the monitoring network that have caught SWD. Numbers caught, even at sustained catch, are still low. However, ripe fruit will be at risk of infestation — June and spring-bearing, overwintered day-neutral strawberries, blueberries, tart and sweet cherries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, peaches, plums — probably in that order of ripening.

SWD populations will build rapidly when fruit is available for oviposition sites, during warm, humid, cloudy weather, and wherever crop canopies are dense and weeds are not managed or mowed. A mated female can lay about 1-3 (or more) eggs per fruit, 7-16 eggs per day, and about 350 eggs during her life span of about three weeks.