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Early season disease management in Vermont vineyards

With the heat this week things moved fast, vines at the UVM vineyard hover around 1-2 inches of growth and those at my house at 1440 feet in elevation are at bud burst. It’s time to really be thinking about protecting vines from early season disease infections. Most cold-climate cultivars will not need disease protection until 5-8” of shoot growth, but any vineyards with heavy disease pressure last year and organic vineyards may wish to begin earlier, especially if inoculum reduction through thorough removal of diseased wood and mummy berries and/or dormant application of lime sulfur was not performed. I still recommend our fact sheet, An Initial Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Strategy for New Cold Climate Winegrape Growers as the best resource to boil the decisions down to a simple ‘prescription’, with the caveat that since it was written some new pest management materials have been released and inoculum may have increased in your vineyards which could lead to increased disease pressure. Growers should have an up-to-date copy of the New England Small Fruit Management Guide (on-line and hard copy versions) and/or New York and Pennsylvania Pest Management Guidelines for Grapes as a reference for specific materials, their efficacy, and use considerations. Remember however that the guidelines are written largely for vinifera and less disease-resistant hybrids, so the specific spray programs recommended may be overkill in Vermont vineyards.

The primary disease of concern at this point is phomopsis, as rachis infection at this point in the season is may cause significant fruit loss at harvest. Anthracnose may also be active at this point , given the warm/hot weather are expecting later this week. Vineyards that have had recent problems with those diseases or organic growers using copper or other less-effective materials may consider treating this week; if you haven’t had major problems with those diseases, treatment can wait until the 5-8” growth stage as long as you are using a highly effective contact fungicide like mancozeb or captan. Organic growers are in for a bit more work. The standard fungicides, copper and sulfur, have only fair efficacy against this disease at best.

It is worth noting that both copper and sulfur (including lime sulfur) can cause phytotoxicity on certain cultivars. Dr. Patty McManus summarized her research on copper and sulfur sensitivity in cold-hardy grapes in the 2/8/16 Northern Grapes newsletter, and I’ll summarize it to say that Brianna should receive no copper; and Frontenac (all types), La Crescent, Leon Millot, Marechal Foch, Marquette, and St. Croix should receive no more than 2-3 copper sprays per season. Save those for later when black rot and downy mildew become bigger concerns. Sulfur sensitivity was observed on several cultivars, and its use (including lime sulfur) is discouraged on Foch, Millot, Brianna, and Louise Swenson; with limited (2-3) applications suggested on LaCrescent and St. Croix.

I’d say any time now is good to get your shoots thinned down to 3-6 shoots per foot of canopy. Keep more on more vigorous vines, less on weaker ones.

Terence Bradshaw (he/him)
Associate Professor, Specialty Crops

Chair, Dept of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment
(formerly Plant and Soil Science)
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

University of Vermont
117/210 – Jeffords Hall | 63 Carrigan Dr
Burlington, VT 05405

(802) 922-2591 | tbradsha
https://go.uvm.edu/alebradshaw

UVM Commercial Horticulture | UVM Fruit Blog
Horticulture Research and Education Center
Message me on Teams

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Vermont Apple IPM, approaching Bloom: Apple scab, fire blight, pollinationn and thinning

Apple scab:

With the rain that has started today and is expected to continue through Friday, I don’t need to tell this audience that we are starting a significant apple scab infection period for orchards across the state. Please keep covered before and, if coverage was questionable, after extended wetting events. In addition to mancozeb and/or captan, which are preventative materials only that must be applied to the leaf surface prior to initiation of infection, single-site materials especially in FRAC class 7 and 11 can not only provide some kick-back activity for up to 48 hours after wetting starts, but also provide good activity against rust and powdery mildew. That said, we still strongly recommend applying all materials prior to wetting events to avoid gaps in coverage and reduce development of fungicide resistance in apple scab fungal populations. At UVM orchards, we have been rotating class 3 (Vangard) and 9 (Flint) combined with mancozeb, next spray we will add a combination group 7 & 11 material to cover our bases more broadly with the suite of diseases that are active from pink through petal fall. Even though we spray no insecticides during bloom, some fungicides can still be harmful to pollinators, this guide can help to select products with lower toxicity.

Fire blight:

The bigger news is that warm to near-hot weather starting Saturday and running through next week will push orchards into bloom while also allowing fire blight bacterial populations to build up. This bacterial disease has been on the rise in the state in the past decade or so, and blossom infection is driven by four necessary components: 1) open blooms through which bacteria can enter the plant; 2) wetting events during bloom to move bacteria into susceptible tissues; 3) sufficient heat (daily average over 60°F) during an infection event to permit bacterial reproduction in susceptible tissues; and 4) sufficient levels of bacteria present going into bloom. The first condition is met just by having open blossoms in the orchard, remember that early or late blooming cultivars can extend the window. Predictions for rain mid-next week are increasing, so we may be heading into a substantial infection event.

The final condition required for infection to occur is a sufficient population of Erwinia amylovera bacteria present in the orchard. Bacteria are present in orchards in differing amounts, and may be present in wild trees surrounding the orchard. The Cougar Blight model used by NEWA to predict infection allows for multiple settings, including “no fire blight occurred in your neighborhood last year”, “fire blight occurred in your neighborhood last year”, and “fire blight is now active in your neighborhood”. Those settings can substantially affect infection predictions, so please adjust the model as appropriate for your orchard. If you had fire blight last year or even in recent (2-3) years, consider moving the slider up into the more conservative class if using the NEWA model.

Models require entry of a date for first bloom. This is not your full bloom date, nor is it applicable only to McIntosh. Accumulation of heat units to assess the epiphytic infection potential (a measurement of the potential population level of infective bacteria) is somewhat complicated, but suffice to say that calculations begin within a certain window of bloom and end when all blossoms are gone so earlier bloom date entries may increase EIP substantially. The point of the model is to run given the best conditions and data you have in your orchard and to use that information to make a sound decision. Being too conservative in the model may overestimate potential for infection (and the reverse is true as well).

NEWA models aren’t raising alarms yet, but remember that heat activity for the fire blight model is measured in degree hours, not days, so a short hot spell can really crank populations up to a damaging level. As we approach and enter bloom, be sure to check NEWA every day, and twice a day if it gets warmer than expected.

While we may not have imminent infection conditions it may be a good idea to line up any streptomycin, prohexdione calcium (e.g., Apogee or Kudos), and/ or Actigard. The latter two materials are preventative and will stiffen plant cell walls to prevent infection (former) or boost the plant’s natura defense pathways to help fend off disease (latter), and both show good efficacy especially when applied prior to bloom and followed by streptomycin. Strep needs to be applied to open flowers, but once a flower is treated it can be considered ;protected’ in most cases until petal fall. The trick is that blossoms continually open during bloom so those that opened after you apply strep are not protected, so I recommend spraying as close to infection as possible. This is a case where you must spray during bloom—it is the open flowers that you are applying the antibiotic to.

Cropload management:

Many orchard have a very heavy bloom with potential for an excessive crop; then again, many orchards suffered substantial damage during the April 20 frost. This leaves growers in a bit of a lurch. Do you apply Promalin to potentially frost-affected blossoms to encourage fruit set, or do you apply a thinner such as NAA to get a jump start on thinning? Do nothing and see what pollination does? I recommend a fairly thorough assessment of buds using a razor blade and magnifier. If you have a heavy bloom and less than 20% damage, consider applying a blossom thinner of 4 oz per acre of NAA. If you have substantial damage, consider Promalin to help set fruit. See my April 17 post for details and consider contacting Valent representative Jim Wargo for more details.

Insects:

Things are still pretty quiet but we except more activity as temperatures warm up. Be sure to have your codling moth, dogwood borer, and oblique banded leafroller traps out now and record first trap capture to set biofix for management.

Others:

It’s a great time to get herbicides and fertilizers down.

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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VT Apple IPM- Bloom week for many orchards, apple scab ahead

This cool weather is certainly holding bud stages back from substantial development in Vermont. At the UVM horticulture research and Education Center, our zest stars are in full bloom, yet most all other varieties are at lake pink with only a few king blossoms showing. This bud stage has held for about 5 days with very slow development. Temperatures hovering around the 60° mark should continue this slow development, and a gentle warm up this weekend and into next week should provide for good pollination conditions in orchards that are in bloom at that time. The other weather event that we are watch is an extended rain event expected Wednesday through Saturday which should Initiate a significant apple scab infection period. As we are in the accelerated phase of these primary ascospore season, all orchards should be covered with an effective contact fungicide and growers should also consider including a fungicide with good activity against rust and powdery mildew as well, Such as the FRAC group 3 and 7 materials.

The good thing about this cool weather is that, for the time being, there is essentially no concern for blossom blight infections from fire blight. Extended cool weather could present issues with timing and appropriate insecticide application at petal fall, as deep bloom. May be drawn out such that there is significant time between early blooming and late blooming cultivars such that populations and damage from European apple sawfly and plum curculio could build up. To date, we have not seen nor heard of others who have singing funny European apple sawfly on monitored traps, and tarnished plant bug reports have been very low, likely due to the cool weather. Growers who wish to hang traps and report the data from them may use the farmable app which we are trialing with help and support from the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association this year. If you have questions about setting the app up for reporting, please reach out.

Terence Bradshaw (he/him)
Associate Professor, Specialty Crops

Chair, Dept of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment
(formerly Plant and Soil Science)
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

University of Vermont
117/210 – Jeffords Hall | 63 Carrigan Dr
Burlington, VT 05405

(802) 922-2591 | tbradsha
https://go.uvm.edu/alebradshaw

UVM Commercial Horticulture | UVM Fruit Blog
Horticulture Research and Education Center
Message me on Teams

VT Apple IPM- Thoughts headed into bloom

Don’t forget we are hosting two twilight meetings this week, please register here: Registration Link

Star Grazer Farm (Liberty Orchard)

2481 West St, Brookfield, VT 05036

Thursday May 7, 4:00 -6:30

and

Mad Tom Orchard

2615 Mad Tom Road, East Dorset VT 05253

Friday May 8, 4:00-6:30

The weather heading into bloom sure looks less-than desirable in many ways. McIntosh at the UVM orchards are at early pink bud stage today (5/4/26) and should advance a bit with warmer and maybe sunnier weather tomorrow. We are expecting a pretty significant apple scab infection period Tuesday through Thursday, but wind conditions are less than ideal for getting a fungicide application on. I suggest getting out whenever the wind allows, even if that means spraying in a rain (but not necessarily a downpour). Mancozeb has decent rainfastness, and I recommend applying another ‘heavy lifter’ fungicide in your tank mix to account for lapses in coverage, assuming that your material has decent kickback activity, and to cover for other diseases such as rusts and powdery mildew. Check the New England Tree Fruit Management Guide for apple fungicide characteristics to help with material selection.

The usual pests that we monitor for to decide whether or not to apply a pink bud stage insecticide spray, European apple sawfly (EAS) and tarnished plant bug (TPB), have been present in very low numbers in the UVM orchard which would not call for an application using the typical thresholds of an average of five to eight per white sticky trap. Given the cool weather conditions as we head into and, as far as the forecast shows, going well into what we can expect to be the bloom period, I recommend that all growers plan to be ultra cautious around pollinator protection this year. The cool weather may present an extended bloom period in which vulnerable buds will be susceptible to damage from EAS and TPB for a longer period, and other insects such as plum curculio can build up in the orchard. However, the weather that we are having and expecting to continue is less conducive to honeybee pollination than the ideal warm, sunny weather. Many native bees fly better than honeybees under these conditions, and a substantial amount of pollination can occur from them. While it is always best practice to minimize any practices that could impact pollinator health, I recommend doing everything you can this year in particular to help maintain pollinator populations. This is also in light of potential damage stemming from the April 20 freeze that some orchards may have seen. This is my long-winded way of saying that, despite the urge to protect flowers / potential fruitlets with an insecticide at pink, I still stand by my usual recommendation to hold off on insecticides until petal fall for most orchards.

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.

Twilight meetings May 7 and 8- PLANNING FOR ORCHARD SUCCESS (Brookfield and East Dorset, VT)

Register here for one or both meetings, Registration Link

PLANNING FOR ORCHARD SUCCESS: PEST, POLLINATOR, AND CROP MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING

Star Grazer Farm (Liberty Orchard)

2481 West St, Brookfield, VT 05036

Thursday May 7, 4:00 -6:30

and

Mad Tom Orchard

2615 Mad Tom Road, East Dorset VT 05253

Friday May 8, 4:00-6:30

Join the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association and the University of Vermont Extension at two hands-on field meetings at two of Vermont’s many beautiful apple orchards. We will learn about each farm, farm funding opportunities, see and discuss sprayer equipment, farm approaches to PYO, and discuss pest and pollinator management at each farm.

Star Grazer Farm (Liberty Orchard): This orchard transitioned to new ownership about 5 years ago. We’ll learn about the farm’s participation in recent on-farm bee pollinator research and see and talk about two types of orchard sprayers.

Mad Tom Orchard: This farmer led meeting will spotlight how orchard crops, management, weather station and spray equipment, markets, and customer relations have evolved in 85+ years of business.

Pesticide applicator credits available at each meeting location: 1 credit for categories 1A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  Certified Crop Adviser Credits pending.

FINAL2026-planning-for-orchard-success (002).pdf

VT Grape IPM: Buds swelling, flea beetles, lime sulfur, weed management

With spring here, I recorded and posted a quick video in the UVM vineyard today, which you can see here: 4/28/2026 Vineyard walk. -TB

Buds are swelling in Vermont vineyards. At the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center in South Burlington, yesterday, bud stages sorted into two general categories. Most ‘Minnesota’ cultivars (Marquette, Brianna, Itasca, Frontenac) are at the ‘wool’ bud stage; and most of the newer Plocher cultivars (also from Minnesota- Petite Pearl, Crimson Pearl, Verona) are a little behind at the bud swell stage. I’d expect bud break very soon, which brings up concerns for frost damage, what with it being April 28 and all. I made some comments on frost in a post from a few years ago that I will repeat again:

“There has been some recent discussion among growers about frost control measures after the cold snap that affected some vineyards. Questions about irrigating for frost control came up, and I’ll give my take on the subject: it is rarely worth it. Unless the irrigation system is carefully designed specifically for frost control (i.e. capable of outputting sufficient water to provide protection to the whole canopy), is run during the entire freezing event, and conditions such as low dew point or wind do prevent effective heat release from forming ice, then the significant effort likely won’t pay off and may cause even more damage than doing nothing at all. Frost fans are more commonly used in larger production regions, but they are very expensive and require their own specific conditions to be effective. I’ll echo comments made by others on the matter: the best frost control is good site selection, followed by good vine management. Row covers may be effective in mitigating frost conditions, but have their own infrastructure needs particularly a wire suspended above the canopy at 7-8 feet on which to hang the cover, and significant labor to apply and remove. I do not have experience to suggest a fabric type that would work best.”

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a bit while we ride this out. The forecast looks mostly good for the foreseeable future.

Flea beetles are the main insect of concern at this point, and really only when bud swell through 1” shoot growth is slowed and the buds remain at this susceptible state for more than a week or so. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on buds and consider treating if more than 2% of buds are damaged. Remember, buds are no longer susceptible after 1” shoot growth, so if you make it past that stage, then don’t worry about them. This is really only a problem in years with a cool, drawn-out spring, and even then, the damage is rarely of economic significance. Clearing brush piles from around vineyard edges can help to reduce this pest.

The window to treat vines with liquid lime sulfur (LLS) for phpompsis and other disease management is closing as vine growth increases, do not consider applying high doses of that material to vines with green tissue showing. I described the use of LLS in my April 3, 2017 message.

Now that buds are swelling, I’d avoid use of systemic herbicides in vineyards unless you have a really good shield system to avoid contact with green tissue. This is a good time to burn down weeds, though, and an application of glufosinate can be effective now. Adding a premergent material like Chateau can extend weed control for a longer period. On the other hand, I find that in-row vegetation can help with excess soil moisture and vine vigor, as long as it is managed. I’m not promoting just letting the weeds go in a planting, and groundcover should be mowed and kept out of the canopy during the growing season.

Terence Bradshaw (he/him)
Associate Professor, Specialty Crops

Chair, Dept of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment
(formerly Plant and Soil Science)
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

University of Vermont
117/210 – Jeffords Hall | 63 Carrigan Dr
Burlington, VT 05405

(802) 922-2591 | tbradsha
https://go.uvm.edu/alebradshaw

UVM Commercial Horticulture | UVM Fruit Blog
Horticulture Research and Education Center
Message me on Teams

VT Apple IPM: Big apple scab event coming, recording scouting data in Farmable

Here’s a quick note with rain expected in the next few days. -TB

With the dry weather that we’ve been experiencing the last week or so, we have had an extended time without apple scab infection periods. However, there has been significant development of ascospore maturity so the next substantial wetting event, which should occur during the extended rainy periods expected starting Wednesday and lasting through the weekend potentially, should result in a substantial and significant disease event. Everyone should have a good font contact fungicide in place going into the wedding. And should consider adding single site products either going into the period or applied during breaks in the rain to help with kickback in the case of imperfect coverage. On a brighter note, even as bloom appears to be off by at least a week or more, the NEWA models do not indicate a substantial increase in bacteria populations and with the onset of cool weather we do not anticipate any immediate concern about fire blight.

Insect pest monitoring should commence any time now in Vermont orchards. This year we are trialing the farmable app to help in collecting monitoring data and other information that may be useful in farm management. We discussed this program in my April 1 bulletin, and a recording of the onboarding meeting may be viewed here. I recorded a video today outlining how to log a set trap in the app so that growers may use it this season (sorry, it’s a little choppy). You can expect more discussion around the app as the season continues.

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.

VT Apple IPM: HIG – Tight Cluster in Vermont orchards

As we wrap up what could be a substantially damaging week for Vermont Apple Growers, I am heartened to have heard very little about damage from Monday night’s frost event. (Please report any damage in your orchard here). That doesn’t mean that there isn’t damage out there— we have heard reports of substantial damage just to the south of us where buds were a couple bud stages more advanced than in many Vermont orchards. At the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center orchards, I assessed some buds on McIntosh, which was at green tip, and Zestar, which was more advanced at the early tight cluster bud stage. Our weather station recorded a low of 24° that night, and I expect that in some areas of the Orchard, especially near the ground, we had temperatures as low as possibly 22°. No Macintosh buds showed damage, however, about 10% of Zestar buds had damage on the king bloom in the cluster. All lateral blossom tissues were intact. This suggests that, at least at our orchard, the damage was minimal and can be managed through normal crop management and thinning procedures. It is best to assess your own orchard carefully before we get into thinning season.

I had a good IPM moment last Saturday when I went into the farm to give a lesson to an undergraduate pesticide applicator training course on sprayer operation and calibration. Since I was going in for a morning class anyway, I had planned to put on our green tip fungicide as I had recalled that there was to be rain in the forecast. When I got to the farm around 4 AM I was preparing my spray records and double checked NEWA. Following the scab model, I saw no risk for apple scab infection in the next 3 to 5 days, so I put the sprayer away and took a nap before class. I have been following NEWA every day, as we all should be at this time of year, and still have not seen substantial risk for apple scalp infection, so we have not sprayed the orchard since our copper spray on April 13. This does potentially leave the orchard in a vulnerable situation if a substantial scab event occurs, as we do not have any fungicide material built up on the trees so we will need to be ready to apply fungicide when the next infection period appears to be upon us, as we are approaching the advanced phase of ascospore maturity.

That doesn’t mean that it’s not still spraying season. This is the time to get in row weeds under control, so herbicide applications would be prudent. This is also an excellent time to apply oil to trees that are no further along than tight cluster bud stage. Oil should be applied at a 2.5% rate to trees that are at silver tip, 2% if trees are no further than green tip or early half inch green, and you could apply at a 1% rate to trees that are at the tight cluster bud stage. I would not apply oil to trees that are past the tight cluster blood stage, for fear of phytotoxicity. When applying oil, the percent rate is just that – 2% oil means 2 gallons of horticultural spray oil in 100 gallons of water. Water should be applied at a dilute rate so as to thoroughly wet the trees, this typically means around 100 gallons per acre. This is also a good time to apply pre-bloom foliar nutrients, such as zinc, nitrogen, and boron.

We will soon be setting insect monitoring traps in the orchards (pdf monitoring guide). The first traps that are set are for tarnished plant bug, and those could be set anytime now (video here). However, tarnished plant bug is not a substantial pest for most retail facing orchards. The damage from TPB is solely cosmetic, and it rarely reaches the level that affects perishable or marketable yield for pick your own or farm market-oriented orchard. The next traps that will be set are the same white sticky card traps used for TPB, these are set for European apple sawfly at the early pink bud stage. Traps should be placed at head height, at least three per orchard block, and monitored through bloom. EAS is both cosmetic and can be a substantial yield-reducing pest if in high enough population. I still typically do not recommend pre-bloom insecticide for most orchards, but orchards that have a history of European apple sawfly or in years where bloom is protracted, which prevents the application of a petal fall spray for several weeks, may call for treatment before bloom.

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.

Here we go again- Freeze damage assessment in Vermont orchards

I don’t need to tell anyone that it was cold last night—I am seeing 26°, 22°, 20°F from NEWA stations and hearing reports from growers of even colder temperatures down into the teens. That’s not unheard of for mid-April, but depending on the bud stage of your trees, that’s enough to cause substantial damage to the 2026 crop. At the UVM Hort Farm, buds I checked around 1:00 PM yesterday were at solid Half-Inch Green bud stage, which the chart indicates that we would start to see damage at 23° and see 90% crop loss at 15°(our station recorded a low of 24°). I wasn’t able to get to the farm today, but will be doing a close check of the buds tomorrow.

Before making any changes to management, it is best to carefully assess the potential damage in your orchard. Sadly, I only need to go back to my May 2023 bulletins to offer a protocol to follow:

Unless you had multiple thermometers in multiple locations and heights in your orchard, you don’t really know the temperatures that any particular tree saw. There has been a lot of extrapolating from neighbor’s stations which can be helpful, but not to the degree of accuracy that would tell you the critical difference between 30° and 28° (or 25° and 22°).
Buds don’t read critical temperature charts– there are a number of factors that can affect bud hardiness, including cultivar, age, water or nutrient stress, etc. But we can assume that temperatures at or below 28° will start to show some real damage.
At this time, the most important thing to do is to assess your damage visually. This is really easy to do as damaged buds will show by now. I sent this link [on 5/18/2023] that will be helpful to review again. Basically, pinch the ovule at the base of the bud with your fingernail or a razor blade so you cut it at the equator. The interior should be completely green with no browning or worse, blackening. This can be seen without intense magnification but growers my age or older ought to have your readers with you. I also looked at buds today with someone who is color blind and realized that that condition makes it had to see the damage, so if you are, have someone else do the assessment.
Think about your strategy based on your freeze condition. Inland, and assuming your orchard saw 25° or colder? Go to your best spots- at the top of the hill, healthiest trees, buds collected head height- if you see extensive damage there, you can assume that the lower spots of the orchard are as bad or worse. In the Champlain Valley, your weather station said 29, 30°? Go to the low spots and assess, if you don’t see extensive damage then your better-sited trees are probably okay. Do a thorough assessment and write it down, especially of you will be applying for a crop insurance payment. I would start with 50 buds collected methodically and randomly from the canopy for each block and variety. If you have more than 50% damage, look more.
If you do have extensive damage and you have crop insurance, contact your agent ASAP. Even if you think you don’t have damage, keep an eye out in the coming weeks. Weakened buds can abscise later, or fruit may develop frost rings that make them unsaleable as fresh fruit.

I’ll end my quoted message there, as the rest included information on how to manage an orchard with little to no crop. I hope things aren’t that bad.

Damage may be reported at: https://go.uvm.edu/vttreefruitfreezedamage. I will use any aggregated reports to help develop management recommendations and to advocate for the industry as appropriate.

Good luck out there. And please let me know what things are looking like.

Best, Terry

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.

Cornell pink stage webinar this afternoon

Passing on this announcement for a webinar to be held today at 1:00 PM. While we are a bit further behind in Vermont than in many areas of New York, this material will be relevant to all growers in our region. I’ll be looking at buds in the next couple of days to assess potential cold damage from this morning’s cold temperatures, stay tuned.-TB

Zoom link:
https://cornell.zoom.us/j/99214892237?pwd=ulz4MrjKN6iBha5cwPPHI8dMcBOZKR.1

Agenda

1:00 PM – Welcome and Intros (Craig Kahlke, CCE-LOF)
1:05 – Early Crop Load Management Overview with Dr. Terence Robinson (Cornell AgriTech)
1:25 – Spring frost risk and mitigation with Dr. Jason Londo (Cornell AgriTech)
1:40 – Disease management with Dr. Kerik Cox (Cornell AgriTech)
1:55 – Disease management with Dr. Scott Cosseboom (Cornell Hudson Valley Research Lab)
2:05 – Insect management with Dr. Monique Rivera (Cornell AgriTech)
2:20 – Insect management with Dr. Andres Delgado (Cornell Hudson Valley Research Lab)
2:30 – Final questions and wrap up

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.