Yikes! This has been quite a week. Even the drier sites in northwest Vermont have seen a couple of inches of rain in the past week, and the worst- apparently my town of Calais- saw over nine and a half inches in the past two days. Southern Vermont is especially hard-hit, and Roads are a mess all over the place. UVM Extension is pulling together a growing list of Disaster & Flood Recovery Resources at: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/disaster-resources. Please let me know if I can help with accessing any resources you may need, whether for your farm or family, we’re in this together. And be safe- my heart is with all of us around the state as we navigate this mess.
As for crop management, disease management is key. Most orchards and vineyards (this is a combined bulletin) would have no fungicide coverage after the recent weather, and we are headed into more wetness. Make sure to cover- tomorrow looks good, generally- with a broad-spectrum material. For apples, consider the summer rots and any scab that would be around from spring, that means captan plus topsin (FRAC 1) / strobilurins (11) / DMI (3)fungicides. Rotate those FRAC codes to minimize resistance. Apple maggot are at threshold in many orchards, so consider treating if your traps have more than an average on one per unbaited or five for baited traps per ten acre block.
For grapes, same story- I’m seeing a lot of disease around the state: black rot, Phomopsis, downy mildew, and botrytis is just around the corner. Keep covered with your most effective materials and be sure to consider downy and botrytis specifically through these storms and extended wetting period, and consider removing symptomatic leaves as you see them. New England Small Fruit Management Guide, Grapes.
I now this season has seen some reduced outreach from my end, but I am handling individual questions all the time. The complications of a bloomtime freeze, May-June drought, July floods, and who knows what’s next make this a really challenging year to make statewide recommendations. Give me a shout if you ever need to. Email always best, but my phone works. (802)922-2591.
Take care out there, Terry
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