Author Archives: Dan Olmstead

About Dan Olmstead

I'm the NEWA Coordinator here at the New York State IPM Program. I work to provide online decision support to growers in NY and across the country for IPM and agricultural best practices.

NEWA announces partnership with Onset Corporation

The New York State IPM Program at Cornell University is pleased to announce that Onset Corporation has joined the NEWA family and will be partnering to integrate HOBO® weather station data used by growers for use with insect pest and plant disease decision support tools at http://newa.cornell.edu.

The HOBO RX3000

Combining HOBO RX3000 weather stations with NEWA’s decision support tools will give farmers access to microclimate monitoring data and real-time crop management decision support, allowing for faster, well-informed farm management decisions. Growers simply select the NEWA data feed after logging onto the HOBOlink® cloud platform and then contact the NEWA Help Desk to complete the onboarding process to http://newa.cornell.edu.

Learn more about the RX3000 NEWA configuration

Onset HOBO RX3000 Benefits

  • Free NEWA access in member states.
  • 5% NEWA discount on weather station equipment purchases.
  • NEWA tool and resource compatibility.
  • Reliable weather monitoring with low-cost data plans.
  • Hobolink® alarm notifications via text.
  • Hobolink® 24/7 data access.
  • Wide area farm coverage with HOBOnet add-on mesh network sensors (optional).

Onset is ready to answer your questions about HOBO RX3000 station configurations suitable for use with the NEWA platform. Visit the Onset NEWA partner page to learn more, or contact designated Onset support staff below with your questions regarding equipment and purchases.

Matt Sharp, Strategic Sales Representative
Environmental & Agricultural Monitoring
Direct: 508-743-3126
Main: 1-800-LOGGERS (564-4377)
matt_sharp@onsetcomp.com

Farm-scale monitoring

Jamie Pearce, Onset’s VP of Marketing and Corporate Development says, “We’re very excited to be integrating our HOBO RX3000 weather station data with NEWA. Not only does it help our agricultural customer base gain actionable insights, but it also delivers the option to leverage our new wireless sensors with the HOBOnet® Field Monitoring System. Now, apple growers to vineyard managers can get a better sense of what’s happening throughout their fields.”

More About Onset

Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Onset has been designing and manufacturing its data loggers and monitoring solutions since the company’s founding in 1981. The company’s award-winning HOBO® data logger and weather station products are used around the world in a broad range of monitoring applications, from water and coastal research to indoor and outdoor environmental monitoring. https://www.onsetcomp.com.

Sign up for eNEWA – grape disease and insect pest email notifications

By Dan Olmstead and Tim Weigle

eNEWA is a daily email notification system that provides summarized weather, disease and insect model information based on NEWA tools and resources found at http://newa.cornell.edu. Read this article to learn more.

Daily eNEWA summaries contain current weather and grape pest model information from one or more NEWA stations of your choice, delivered at times of your choice. Each eNEWA notification contains the following information:

eNEWA is a convenient way to get a quick overview of pest potentials for your vineyard operation without clicking through the NEWA website every day.  eNEWA is not meant to replace the NEWA website, but it does provide a quick and easy way to know if you need to visit http://newa.cornell.edu/ for a closer look. For example, if eNEWA reports a potential infection event for one of the grape disease models you can visit the model on NEWA to get additional management information specific to your site.

Sign up for eNEWA

Visit the eNEWA registration page to sign up for a free 2019 subscription. You can choose up to five locations in NY or PA and up to 3 daily email delivery times. Contact the NEWA Help Desk if you have sign up questions.

Sign up for eNEWA

Things to know when signing up for eNEWA

  • eNEWA notifications will start shortly after the growing season begins.
  • An eNEWA email notification is approximately 3 pages in length for each location chosen.

Once during the growing season and again after harvest, you will be asked to complete a short survey to assist NYSIPM, LERGP, and Cornell Cooperative Extension improve the eNEWA notification system.

NEWA apple carbohydrate thinning model now improved!

Written by Dan Olmstead, Juliet Carroll and Mario Miranda Sazo

You’ve read about it in trade magazines, heard about in talks, and now it’s become a reality with a v2019 upgrade released on Friday April 26! Terence Robinson has added important improvements to the apple carbohydrate thinning model on NEWA. Dr. Robinson, tlr1@cornell.edu, Professor of Horticulture, Cornell University, along with other horticulturists, developed the Malusim fruit thinning model. The Apple Carbohydrate Thinning Model on NEWA has continued to be researched and now the improvements from this research are being woven into a v2019 edition of the model, improving its precision.

How to Access the v2019 Apple Carbohydrate Thinning Model on NEWA

If you haven’t already started your thinning program, access and use the v2019 apple carbohydrate thinning model using the same dropdown list as the current apple thinning model. Click on ‘Apple CHO Thinning v2019 NEW’.

If you’ve already initiated your thinning program and are using the original ‘Apple Carbohydrate Thinning’ model, continue to use that one. All web browser bookmarks and website access points will remain intact for the remainder of 2019.

Need more specifics? On NEWA’s main menu, hover over or tap on ‘Crop Management’ to show the dropdown list. Then click or tap on ‘Apple CHO Thinning v2019 NEW’. Click the link below for direct access.

Apple CHO Thinning v2019 (the upgraded version), http://newa.cornell.edu/index.php?page=apple-thin-new

Mario Miranda Sazo, Extension Associate, Cornell Cooperative Extension Lake Ontario Fruit Program, provided this summary of the upgrades in the Apple CHO Thinning v2019 NEW model.

  • The NEWA apple carbohydrate thinning model will get an updated look and provide more comprehensive information.
  • The data table will have a column of degree days (DD) base 4°C and will have color highlighting when we are in the sweet spot for thinning (200-250 DD from bloom).
  • The user will be required to enter the percentage of spurs that are floral.
  • The new version will also give a Thinning Index composed of the average carbohydrate balance for the two days before, the day of thinning, and the next four days, providing a seven-day running average.
  • The thinning recommendations will be based on a new three-dimensional lookup table that takes into account DD from bloom, percent of spurs that are flowering, and the thinning index (i.e. the average carbohydrate balance over seven days).
  • The thinning recommendation cells in the table will be color coded to indicate high risk of over-thinning (red), mild thinning efficacy (yellow), and good thinning efficacy (green).

In New York, please direct questions and comments regarding these important updates and changes to your Cornell Cooperative Extension regional program extension educator listed below or to Terence Robinson.

Mario Miranda Sazo, Lake Ontario Fruit Program

Mike Basedow, Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program (Champlain Valley)

Dan Donahue, Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program (Hudson Valley)

In 2020, along with a brand new NEWA website, the upgraded apple carbohydrate thinning model will be implemented on NEWA and replace the original version.