This will be a fairly brief newsletter today as I am away all week at a conference in Chicago. Feel free to e-mail or text me if you have specific questions, I will keep up the best that I can. -TB

We are entering into what I consider early summer insect management season. The main insect of concern at this point is codling moth, although plum curculio may still be active in some orchards. Two times sprays against codling moth, pheromone baited wing traps would have been hung prior to bloom and the date of first sustained capture recorded. From that point degree days are calculated using a base of 50°F and hatching larvae are best treated when 220° days have accumulated. For the UV orchard where we had sustained moth capture on May 17th, that would put us at good timing to manage our first generation of codling moth this week. Our orchard has a relatively high population and this emergence is earlier than I have seen in other orchards in the region, so your site may be able to be treated next week in the Champlain Valley or even later in the cooler inland orchards. Cottonmouth should best be managed with a material that specifically has high efficacy against that particular pest. Some good options are presented in this table Apple Insecticide Efficacy : New England Tree Fruit Management Guide : UMass Amherst (best seen on a computer or tablet screen, it doesn’t render well on a smaller phone screen).

Even though primary apple scab season is done for virtually all orchards in the state, I still recommend applying at least 1/2 rate of captan as we continue to have wet weather and some are diseases and fruit rots can get out of control if not managed. This is also the time to be applying calcium in every spray, especially on Honeycrisp.

The UVM Tree Fruit and Viticulture Program is supported by the University of Vermont Agriculture Experiment Station, UVM Extension, USDA NIFA E-IPM Program, and USDA Risk Management Agency.

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