Berrien County Fruit Happenings

Vol. 2, No. 1

April, 2000

Dear Berrien County Fruit Growers,

I am sorry to have to tell you that this will be my last Newsletter as I have accepted a new position as Tree Fruit Extension Specialist with the University of Massachusetts effective May 1, 2000.

Although my time as Berrien County Extension Horticulture Agent was somewhat short, I hope you have benefited in some way from my educational efforts, be it via my Newsletters, meetings, e-mail and web-site, or direct contact. I do regret that I did not get to meet and work with more of you first-hand, as I highly valued the individual relationships I was able to cultivate with some of you. As in every fruit growing region, it is the individual growers who give the industry personality and sustainability, and Berrien County is no exception!

You can be assured that Michigan State University and Berrien County are committed to helping you prosper as growers in this challenging growing and marketing climate. They are in the process of evaluating what expertise and experience to look for when hiring the next Berrien County Horticulture Agent. If you have any suggestions I am sure they would like your input.

In the meantime, you are fortunate to have two very capable and dedicated MSU Extension District Fruit Agents to call upon – Bill Shane, at the Southwest Michigan Research & Extension Center (944-1477, ext. 205), and Mark Longstroth, at the Van Buren County MSU Extension office (toll-free, 1-888-793-7848). Bill specializes in tree fruit related production questions, while Mark can handle your small fruit questions. I urge you to take advantage of these two. I have first-hand knowledge of their expertise and responsiveness, and I will sincerely miss working with both of them.

You should also very seriously consider taking advantage of the information and educational opportunities presented by information technology—specifically the World Wide Web and e-mail. A computer has become—in my opinion—an essential tool for operating a successful farming business in 2000. In addition to its capability to help you manage the financial aspect of your business (TELFARM, ask Mark about it), a computer is an excellent communication, networking, and information gathering tool. Both Bill and Mark maintain websites -- www.msue.msue.edu/swmrec/ and www.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/disthort.htm respectively -- and are very responsive on e-mail: shane@msue.msu.edu or longstro@msue.msu.edu -- It sure beats playing ‘phone-tag’ sometimes! As more and more growers go on-line, e-mail is also an excellent way to communicate with each other.

As always, I hope you have a great and profitable growing season, and thank you for the opportunity we have had to share our fruit growing experience.

Sincerely,

Jon Clements

Berrien County Extension ANR Agent, Horticulture & Marketing

/dd

During the County Agent vacancy, please feel free to direct your inquires to the following agents who have graciously agreed to support Berrien County producers:

Tree Fruit concerns:

Bill Shane 616-944-1477

Small Fruit concerns:

Mark Longstroth 1-888-793-7848

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The Berrien County Extension Office has purchased the brand new (1999) video "Farmers And Their Diversified Horticultural Marketing Strategies." This 49-minute video shares the experience of managers of eight northeast farms, who show how the right combination of products, customers, and marketing strategies can help build financially rewarding businesses. The video will help both new and established growers and their advisors carefully consider the marketing options for their particular situations and can enhance income and promote the sustainability of their farms.

If you’d like to borrow the video, please stop by and sign it out. You may also purchase it for $15 (plus S&H) from NRAES (Natural Resource, Agriculture and Engineering Service), 607-255-7654, nraes@cornell.edu

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Apogee^® (BASF Corp.) is a new-to-market PGR (Plant Growth Regulator) for vegetative growth control. The chemical ingredient, prohexadione calcium, blocks the synthesis of active gibberellins, the plant hormone that in part regulates shoot growth.

Apogee has been tested since the mid-90’s as ‘BAS 25’ by fruit researchers. There is a good body of evidence for its recommended use to achieve good results, and this will be included on the label. (As of late March, 2000, it had not been labeled yet, however, BASF is expecting registration in April.) Because Apogee effectively shortens shoot growth, you might expect to reduce pruning costs, improve fruit pack-out (color enhancement), increase efficacy of pesticide applications (more open tree canopy), and improved insect (aphid, oblique-banded leafroller) and disease (particularly fireblight) control.

Timing and rates are important considerations with Apogee application. (As with any other pesticide or PGR!) First, you need to consider the amount of vigor in your orchard – high vigor will require higher rates to do the job. For timing, the most important application is the first – it must be made when terminals are 1-3 inches long, no later. Subsequent applications are made at 10- to 14-day intervals depending on the vigor of the orchard. For moderate vigor orchards, 3 or 4 more applications are sufficient, whereas in high vigor or ‘crop loss’ orchards, up to 6 or 7 more applications may be necessary to adequately control growth.

Apogee may be an effective tool to help you reduce production costs IF you can reduce pruning bills, and increase packout via better color and pest control. But, you must get effective vegetative growth control to realize these benefits. Therefore, careful application and analysis of block-by-block cost/benefit must be followed to achieve the desired results with Apogee.

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Two new broad-spectrum fungicides are available for pome fruits in 2000. They are Sovran^® and Flint^®, manufactured by BASF and Novartis respectively.

These strobilurin fungicides are derived from a naturally occurring fungicide – hence they have very low toxicity to birds, earthworms, beneficial insects, and humans. They have, however, very good activity against a wide range of plant diseases, including scab, powdery mildew, and the summer diseases.

Sovran and Flint will have particular value in an apple scab management program, both because they are good protectants and anti-sporulants, and because they are useful in a fungicide resistance management program when rotated with other protectants and SI (sterol-inhibitor) fungicides.

But care must be taken so that resistance does not develop to this new class of fungicides. Therefore, the recommendation is that no more than two or three back-to-back applications of either strobilurin (Sovran or Flint) be made. Then, you must use at least two applications of other effective fungicides, such as an SI with protectant tank mix, before you can use the strobilurins again.

For example, an anti-resistance spray program utilizing strobilurin fungicides appears in the table below:

(adapted from the MSU Extension Fruit Spraying Calendar 2000):

Label rates for Flint are 2 – 2.5 oz. per acre and for Sovran are 4 – 6.4 oz. per acre. (Or 1.0 – 1.6 oz. per 100 gallons.) Therefore, accurate sprayer calibration is essential to achieve the desired amount per acre and good disease control.

An important consideration when using these products is their phytotoxicity to some fruits. Sovran is phytotoxic to several sweet cherry varieties and Flint is phytotoxic to grapes. Neither of them is labeled for direct use on these fruits, and care should be taken to minimize drift (minimal risk of injury) or their use on off-target crops where there is a high risk for damage as a result of misapplication.

These two new strobilurin fungicides represent a significant enhancement for your scab control toolbox. Their use is encouraged as part of an anti-resistance scab control program, and they will give you very good control of most apple diseases – and scab in particular – when used as part of this program.

For more information on strobilurin fungicides, anti-resistance management for apple scab, and/or apple scab management, consult the ‘MSU Extension Fruit Spraying Calendar 2000,’ and/or ‘Diseases of Tree Fruits in the East,’ (both available from the Berrien County Extension office), or Scaffold’s Fruit Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/scafolds/.

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Apply fertilizer as necessary – most mature fruit trees need from 50 – 80 lbs. nitrogen (N) and 150 – 200 lbs. potassium (K) per acre per year. The N application is best split between two applications: the first when terminal growth begins shortly after bloom, the second application 4 – 6 weeks later (but not after July 1). Of course a soil and foliar nutrient analysis are the best indicators of fertilizer needs.

Urea sprays at pink are useful on apples where the previous years’ nitrogen status was low, trees are weak, or a prolonged, cool bloom period is anticipated. (Which can be a little difficult to predict!) Urea is easy to add to fungicide and insecticide sprays and can easily give a quick nitrogen boost to starved trees. Use 3 lbs. per 100 gallons/dilute pre-bloom, 5 lbs. per 100 gallons post-bloom.

 Zinc (EDTA chelate) and boron foliar sprays when applied pre- and post-bloom are effective at supplying these micronutrients and for helping fruit set, particularly on weak or winter-injured trees.

Pruning can be used to adjust crop load and affect final fruit size on peaches. Pre-bloom removal of excess fruiting wood will result in larger (but fewer) peaches remaining at harvest. The trick is to estimate just how much fruiting wood should remain based on the tree’s age and vigor. This is easiest in trees trained and pruned from the start to a ‘V’ or ‘quad’ system whereby strong fruiting wood arises directly from clearly defined scaffolds that form the basis of the system.

Plastic spiral-wrap mouseguards should be removed during the growing season, as they harbor trunk borers. Also, susceptible rootstocks like M.26 should have soil mounded up around the exposed rootstock shank (particularly where burr-knots are developing) to prevent infestation by borers.

Weed control should be started early. Research has shown that a relatively weed-free tree row strip during bloom and shortly thereafter results in better tree growth and fruit set during this period when the tree is most susceptible to weed competition. Later in the growing season, weeds can be allowed to return to the tree row strip, and in fact harbor beneficial insects and soak up excess nitrogen. Two applications of Roundup^® – the first around bloom, and then again sometime during June or early July gives sufficient early season weed control while allowing some weeds to develop later in the growing season.

Pollinating bees should be in place sooner rather than later. Thinning is a lot easier when the king bloom (on apples) is set, so bees must be in place during king bloom! If good pollination weather and bee activity ensues, bees can be removed early to prevent lateral bloom from being set. Also, remember that clover and other blooming weeds in the orchard groundcover compete for bees during bloom, so year-long orchard groundcover management should focus on eliminating these weeds. For more information on the important subject of pollination, visit The Pollination Home Page, http://www.pollinator.com.

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In its process to review pesticide registrations under the 1996 Food Quality and Protection Act (FQPA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just opened a public comment period on the organophosphate insecticide Phosmet, which is most commonly used in fruit crops under the brand name Imidan.

Of particular interest to fruit growers is the discussion on re-entry intervals. EPA has found that the time for Phosmet to degrade or disappear from foliage ranges as long as 50-60 days. Hence, their primary concern is for worker exposure. (Interestingly, there is very little concern about dietary exposure for this pesticide.) Under current label usage conditions, workers would need to stay out of the orchard for anywhere from 37 to 52 days in order to reach EPA’s targeted ‘safe’ exposure level.

Fruit growers need to let EPA know how important Imidan is in an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, and that such a long re-entry interval would severely limit its practical use in most fruit crops. EPA is looking for specific comments on how Imidan^® is beneficial to growers’ pest control programs and their specific use patterns.

EPA intends to mitigate the worker exposure risk by revising the label. This is your chance to have some input – let EPA know how important it is to keep Imidan in the pesticide toolbox, and about your current use patterns. The 60-day public participation period for risk management is currently underway, beginning March 20. Hopefully, with industry and grower input, EPA can be convinced to revise the label so that the best interests of growers, agricultural workers, and the public can be considered and Imidan will remain a viable pesticide option for future use on fruit farms.

To get details on what kind of information EPA is looking for, go to the EPA web-site devoted to the status of organophosphate insecticide re-registration:

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/op/status.htm

The public comment period will also be listed in the Federal Register, or you may contact Diane Isbell at (703) 308-8154 or e-mail: isbell.diane@epa.gov for more information. Comments can be sent directly to opp-docket@epa.gov, or U.S. EPA, OP Pesticide Docket (7502C), 401 M St. S.W., Washington, DC 20460.

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Michigan State University Extension prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status.

The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by MSU Extension is implied.

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E-0154 2000 Fruit Spraying Calendar ($9.00)

E-0312 2000 Insect, Disease & Nematode Control For Commercial Vegetables ($5.00)

E-0433 2000 Weed Control Guide For Vegetable Crops ($2.90)

E-0434 2000 Weed Control Guide For Field Crops ($10.00)

E-1582 2000 Insect & Nematode Control For Field & Forage Crops ($3.00)

E-2712 Air Blast Orchard Spraying: Nozzle Arrangement and Calibration ($3.00)

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