Your crops are vulnerable! Hail, wind, drought, flood and more can threaten your crops and your livelihood. Learn how crop insurance and other programs provide protection for crop loss. This workshop is free for growers.

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The 2009 North Central Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals is now available online at http://sare.org/ncrsare/cfp.htm.

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Erin Lizotte, Nikki Rothwell, Amy Irish-Brown, and Dawn Drake...During this first year of USDA GAP audits in the fruit industry, the learning curve has been steep. However, many growers have passed their audits successfully. Those growers that have been through the USDA GAP audit process have helped us construct the following pointers based on their experiences.

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Carlos García...Food safety has become a major concern for buyers and shippers of fresh produce all over the United States and internationally. To mitigate these concerns, they in turn are demanding from fresh produce providers to be GAP certified through third party auditing companies that provide this service. For example, since July 1, 2007, the USDA’s National School Lunch Program demands that fresh apple providers should be GAP certified under their own GAP program.

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Interested in learning how to make cheese? Cheese expert Peter Dixon, farmer and owner of the Guilford Cheese Company in Vermont, will teach the ins and outs of cheese production from milk quality to business plans. Dixon has been making artisan cheeses since the 1980s. The three-day workshop will be held August 4-6, 2009, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the MSU Dairy Plant. Space is limited to 20 participants, so register now to ensure a spot. Cost for the workshop is $425 per person and includes materials and lunches for all three days. Call the MSU Kellogg Center for lodging: 800-875-5090. View brochure for registration information.

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As we approach the middle of the CAT Alert publishing season, now is a great time to poll you, the readers, about our new website. Please fill out this short, five question survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=UXKfFGg4s5jaenMSpGPwCg_3d_3d

Your feedback helps us make improvements as well as provides important information to share with our funders who make this publication available for free on the Internet.
– Andrea Buchholz, assistant editor.

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By Diane Brown-Rytlewski...

Fruit and Vegetable Production Field Day
When: Wednesday July 15, from 5:30-8:30 PM. Dinner will be held at 5:30 PM.
Where: Holloway Farms, 1737 Smith Rd., Buchanan, Michigan
Registration: $5 per person. Please RSVP by July 8 to Berrien County Conservation District, 269-471-9111 ext. 5
For further information, contact Suzy at 269-471-9111 ext. 121.

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By Eric Hanson... A high tunnel tour and meeting will take place on June 17 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center 1791 Hillandale Road, Benton Harbor, Michigan.

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By Vera Bitsch... During this past April, the total number of hired workers was estimated at 903,000 individuals; that’s down by 2 percent from a year ago. In the reference week, 680,000 individuals were hired directly by farm operators. The average number of hours worked stood at 40.1, down 2 percent compared to last year’s 40.8 hours.

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By Philip Schwallier... Some years it is desirable to try to enhance return bloom on apple varieties that tend to be biennial. This is especially important on trees that have a heavy crop load. Most years treatments of summer NAA applied at five, seven and nine weeks after bloom will increase return bloom even on varieties that have heavy crop loads and tend to have poor return bloom.

[Read the rest of this article...]

By John Wise... San Jose scale trapline data for June 2, 2009.

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By Larry Gut, David Epstein, Peter McGhee and John Wise... In this follow-up to last week’s article on early season codling moth (CM) management, we focus on controlling CM larvae. To get the most benefit from a CM control measure, growers should treat a block after moth captures have been recorded and the accumulation of growing degree days (GDD) required for a particular action, as indicated in Table 1, has taken place.

[Read the rest of this article...]

By Jeff Andresen and Thomas Dudek... From its appearance and the damage it caused, it almost appeared as if a small tornado had moved through Lincoln Nursery in Ottawa County last Sunday afternoon (See image). However, tornadoes are always associated with severe thunderstorms and the weather last Sunday in western, lower Michigan was sunny, cool and windy.

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John Wise, Entomology...American plum borer trapline for May 19, 2009.

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Rufus Isaacs, Entomology

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has recently released an "Endangered Species Protection Bulletin" for Karner Blue butterfly in Allegan, Monroe, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo and Oceana counties in Michigan.

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As you know, we have changed the CAT Alert web format this season. With the changes come many new features. We have established an informal article rating systems with stars, which allow you, the reader, to rate each article’s usefulness. By selecting a five-star rating, the highest rating possible, you are essentially saying the article provided beneficial information or it was exceptionally good. When using our search engine, these stars can help readers select articles.

Another feature available is found below the article in the “Actions” menu. Here you can email an article to a friend; use the Permalink option for saving the link; “Kick” the article (the more you click this option, the better chance the article will stay on the homepage, it is another way to rate the article); Dzone an article (another Web 2.0 social media sharing option), or bookmark the article with del.icio.us (an online version of your bookmarks that use keywords).

We will continue to update you with changes to our web. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at catalert@msu.edu. – Andrea Buchholz, asst. editor

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2009 Trevor Nichols Research Complex Oriental fruit moth trapline data.

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By Bill Shane and Tracy Aichele... A new feature for predicting fire blight disease of apples blossoms has been added to the Michigan on-line weather system Enviroweather (www.enviroweather.msu.edu). The new tool, dubbed the Fire Blight Interactive Predictor, allows the user to modify temperature, rainfall, bloom dates, and other factors to more closely match conditions on your farm.

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By Zachary Huang and Walt Pett... Despite the importance of honey bees, the beekeeping industry has been in decline since two parasitic mites, varroa (Varroa descructor) and tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi), invaded the United States in the 1980s. Varroa mites have nearly wiped out the feral (unmanaged) honey bee population in the United States (Kraus and Page, 1995) and managed honey bee colonies have been declining mainly due to more complicated management because of the mites.

[Read the rest of this article...]

2009 Trevor Nichols Research Complex spotted tentiform leafminer trapline data.

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By Paul Jenkins... The Grape*A*Syst Program was launched in April 2009. Grape*A*Syst is an on-farm assessment designed to assist Michigan grape growers evaluate the level of sustainability on their farm, and is a direct response to National Grape’s initiative to develop and implement sustainable practices for their grower members.

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By Nikki Rothwell and Erin Lizotte... The Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station (NWMHRS) has a stock of food safety DVD’s available for growers. These DVD’s serve as food safety training for on-farm employees. Growers that will undergo a food safety audit in 2009 will need to train employees and verify this training.

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By Erin Lizotte and Nikki Rothwell... Michigan State University is now offering USDA GAP audit assistance manuals to help growers establish a food safety plan. Paper copies are available for $18 or can be downloaded for free from the NWMHRS website: http://www.maes.msu.edu/nwmihort/msu_GAP_Manual_5_4_09.doc.

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2009 Trevor Nichols Research Complex green fruitworm trapline data.

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By Nikki Rothwell...To effectively set up a new irrigation system, growers need a good understanding of plant and water relationships. A morning workshop with two irrigation specialists (please see bios below) will be held to help growers understand this relationship on April 21 at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station (NWMHRS).

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As you’ve noticed the CAT Alerts have taken on a new look and with the new look comes a new web address. Read and bookmark the Fruit CAT Alert at www.ipmnews.msu.edu/fruit. Thank you for being patient as we transition into our fresh news venue. We hope you enjoy the news features. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to write to us at catalert@msu.edu. – Andrea Buchholz, asst. editor

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By Vera Bitsch... The most significant change in the latest revision of the I-9 form is the requirement that all acceptable documents must be unexpired, including the U.S. passport.

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The weather for the past two weeks was mild with highs in the 50s and 60s and lows around freezing. A spring snowstorm brought heavy snow to the area on April 6. The overnight lows have not been low enough to cause damage to swollen buds.

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Welcome back, Fruit CAT Alert readers. Spring is right around the corner, so it’s time to start planning for the upcoming season. Our first issue offers research on strobulurin resistance, American brown rot, and pheromone-based approaches for managing tree fruit pests, upcoming meeting for blueberries and wine grapes, fruit insecticide registration updates and regional reports.

Our Internet readers will soon become familiar with the new “face” of the CAT Alert. With the new look comes new features. Readers will be able to print single articles as well as the whole issue, rate the articles for usefulness, email articles to friends and much more. We will continue posting articles throughout the week as we receive them from authors to make sure you can access the information as soon as possible. In the past, articles were collected and then published on the web and in print once a week.

We appreciate suggestions from you, our readers. Please feel free to contact Andrea Buchholz at (517) 353-4703 or email catalert@msu.edu. Internet readers can also sign up to receive a brief email when we post new issues on the Internet or use our new RSS feed. Details are at: http://ipm.msu.edu/email-fruit.htm

We look forward to joining with MSU’s faculty and educators to provide you with up-to-date information for this season. – Joy Landis, editor, and Andrea Buchholz, assistant editor.

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By Erin Lizotte and George Sundin... American brown rot ( AMERICAN BROWN ROT) is caused by the ascomycete fungus Monilinia fructicola, and is an important pathogen on cherry (particularly sweet cherry varieties), peach, apricot, nectarine, and plum. The fungus attacks fruit, blossoms, spurs and shoots with ideal infection conditions initiating epidemic inoculum levels in as little as 24 hours.

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By Philip Schwallier and Amy Irish-Brown... Tall Spindle is a new apple training system mostly developed and described at Cornell University by Dr. Terence Robinson and Steve Hoying. This system is proving to be the best system for eastern United States’ apple growers because of its many advantages.

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By John Wise, Rufus Isaacs and Larry Gut... This is a summary of insecticide/miticide label new additions and corrections to the 2009 MSU Fruit Management Guide (E-154). Agri-chemical labels and regulations can change quickly so use this information within the context of each compound's actual label.

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By Annemiek Schilder... In the past year or two, various new fungicides have been labeled for use in berry crops and grapes; you may already be familiar with some of these, but others will be new. Not all of the new products represent new chemistries.

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Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009
Time: Noon to 5:00 PM
Location: Southwest Michigan Research & Extension Center (SWMREC)
1791 Hillandale Road, Benton Harbor, MI 49022

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By Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane... The Monday Fruit IPM update meetings will be at Annette and Randy Bjorge’s Fruit Acres in Berrien County again this year. The weekly meetings will begin on April 13 and run until June 29. There will be no Monday meetings on Memorial Day, May 27.

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Spring has begun in Southwest Michigan. Weather in the middle of March was warm with highs near 70 and lows in the 50s. The last two weeks were relatively warm, with highs in the 50s and lows above freezing.

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Ron Perry...In the last few weeks, we have experienced below normal amounts of precipitation and certainly below normal relative humidity. Combined with high winds, canopies of trees are beginning to express stress, especially as we approach harvest. This situation is becoming extremely critical, especially in Northern Michigan where rainfall and humidity has certainly been below normal.

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Anyone in Michigan who grows, sells, processes or eats food now has a new resource to help them. Market Maker© locates producers, businesses and markets of food products, providing an important link between Michigan producers and their buyers including end-consumers. The on-line information is provided on maps so that producers, businesses and markets can be visually located. Producers can use the web site to find processors, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, restaurants or farmers’ markets who might buy their products. Producers who are registered on the site can be easily found by their potential buyers and end-consumers.

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Eric Hanson...Leaf analysis is the best way to monitor the nutrition of fruit plantings. This procedure provides a direct measure of the nutritional health of plants as soil tests only provide an estimate. Leaf analyses can be used to diagnose nutritional problems and to identify developing problems before growth or yield is affected. Sample young plantings every one to two years and established plantings every two to four years. The whole farm can be sampled every three to five years, or portions sampled more frequently.

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Nikki Rothwell, Mark Longstroth, Bill Shane and Amy Irish-Brown...We have seen glyphosate (Round-Up) damage to cherry and apple trees over the past few weeks. In most cases, damage was to young trees, but we have found damage on 15 to 20-year-old tart cherries. Glyphosate damage is easily recognized; the leaves on a branch or the whole tree are small and narrow with a light yellow or pale green color.

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Erin Lizotte and George Sundin...With an almost constant barrage of wind and rain, getting into the orchards has been difficult to say the least. When managing cherry leaf spot, conventional wisdom has shown that protectant management strategies that keep leaves protected during infection periods are the most effective treatments.

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John Wise...The heavy rainfall events experienced in Michigan over the last several weeks has prompted many questions about the relative “rainfastness” of the insecticides used in fruit production. Very little research has been done on this subject in recent years, leaving growers to depend largely on folk-lore to guide their decisions of whether or not they need to spray after a rain event. In 2006, the Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station provided funds to purchase and install a state-of-the-art rainfall simulation chamber at the MSU Trevor Nichols Research Complex.

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Larry Gut, David Epstein and John Wise...A review of the 2008 season, thus far
The increased availability of several excellent leafroller control materials in the past several years has resulted in reduced obliquebanded leafroller pressure in Michigan apple orchards. Early season use of Rimon and Proclaim for codling moth control in 2007 provided excellent leafroller control. Many growers have incorporated two additional materials into their 2008 first generation codling moth management program, Altacor and Delegate. Both also provide excellent leafroller control at these early timings.

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John Wise, Nikki Rothwell, David Epstein, Larry Gut and Mark Whalon...The plum curculio (PC) is an important early season pest on pome and stone fruits. There is an array of insecticides available for control of the PC, but their performance characteristics vary greatly compared to our traditional broad-spectrum chemistries. These conventional insecticides, such as organophosphates and pyrethroids, work primarily as lethal contact poisons on PC adults in the tree canopy.

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By Phil Schwallier... There are four points that should be considered when applying Apogee to apples: timing, rate per acre, thinning relationships and compatibility.

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Vera Bitsch...While many federal laws protecting equal employment opportunity exempt small businesses, Michigan laws do not. Michigan laws protect religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, marital status and disability. As long as the specific disability is unrelated to the individual’s ability to perform the duties of a particular job or position with or without reasonable accommodation.

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By Mark Longstroth... Spring frosts are a worry for fruit growers. Radiation frosts occur when clear calm conditions during the night allow the ground to cool by radiation to the sky. The cool soil chills the air above it lowering the air temperature.

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Nikki Rothwell...Erin Lizotte has been named the Michigan State University Extension integrated fruit practices and integrated pest management district educator at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station. She will begin her new position on January 1, 2008. Erin will provide leadership and focus for fruit pest and crop management in northern Michigan.

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The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) Program is seeking innovative farmers or ranchers who want to implement a new, sustainable, idea to improve their operation. NCR-SARE is currently accepting applications for their 2007 Farmer Rancher grant program.

NCR-SARE awards grants to farmers and ranchers for on-farm research, demonstrations and education projects. By providing funds ranging from $6,000 per individual grant to up to $18,000 for grants awarded to groups of three or more, NCR-SARE helps facilitate essential agricultural research and development.

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Eric Hanson...We have been studying strawberry and raspberry production under Haygrove high tunnels at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) in Benton Harbor for three years. High tunnels are relatively inexpensive hoop houses that can be covered with plastic except during the winter. These structures exclude rain and modify temperatures, wind speed and humidity. Funding was provided by Haygrove Tunnels (cost-sharing for structures) the Michigan State Horticulture Society Trust Fund, Project GREEEN and SWMREC. Vegetables and cut flowers are also being tested, under Ron Goldy’s leadership, and Greg Lang is evaluating sweet cherries.

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Mike Hansen...Plum pox sampling in southwest Michigan is progressing well. The MDA sampling teams collected their 40,000th southwest Michigan sample of the summer on July 31. All orchards located within five miles of last year’s positive find as well as farms from across Berrien, VanBuren and Allegan counties are being sampled in southwest Michigan this summer. Sampling will continue through mid-August. Additionally, MDA is looking at stonefruit statewide with another sample team collecting samples in West Central Michigan, primarily in Mason and Oceana counties.

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Mark Whalon, Dan Nortman, John Wise, Larry Gut and David Epstein...Plum curculio overwinter as adults in the soil, litter and ground cover trash in orchards and in surrounding areas. As soon as daytime and evening temperatures exceed 60°F, plum curculio will begin to move, especially when a light, misty rain or humid night co-occurs with early spring warming trends. The weevils move into orchards and begin to feed as leaves begin to emerge. Their feeding activity expands to blossoms, stems and fruit as they become available.

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Roberta Dow...
Northern District Water Quality Educator
Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program
Michigan State University Extension

June 14 from 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Northwest Horticultural Research Station
6686 Center Rd.
Traverse City, Michigan.

This workshop is designed for pesticide applicators working with nurseries, greenhouses, vegetables, floral, forest and other small acreage settings. Dr. John Grande, Snyder Research Farm, Rutgers University will be the featured speaker. Different types of liquid applicators (pump and powered backpack sprayers, backpack mist blowers, small – less than 150 gallons – sprayers mounted on Mule, etc.) will be demonstrated, discussed and calibrated.

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Zachary Huang...If you have been listening to radio or reading papers the last few weeks, chances are that you have already heard about the alarming honey bee die-offs around the country. The phenomenon is officially named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This disorder has the media all excited because it is large in scale (27 states are affected), came in quick (Colonies that were fine in August or September became collapsed around October and November.), and hit people hard (Many beekeepers with hundreds to thousands of colonies are losing 50 to 90 percent of their colonies.).

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George Sundi and Gayle McGhee...In 2006, we detected streptomycin-resistant Erwinia amylovora, the fire blight pathogen, for the first time in orchards in Oceana County, Michigan. The pathogen was present in apple orchards at frequencies of 20 to 30 percent. Growers in Oceana County should use a tank-mix of Streptomycin and Mycoshield at full rates for blossom blight control under high disease pressure.

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Eric Hanson and Jim Nugent...Fruit crops utilize varying amounts of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) to grow and mature a full crop of fruit. If the fruit crop is lost or reduced by freeze damage, the nutrient needs are also reduced to some degree. Here are some thoughts on fertilizing following frost damage.

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Nikki Rothwell and George Sundin...Bacterial canker is caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae, and this pathogen can infect sweet and tart cherry and plums throughout Michigan. This disease is most problematic in sweet cherries, and epidemics often occur in conjunction with cold, frost-prone weather in the spring. Freezing temperatures can also dispose cherry tissues to bacterial canker infection, especially if the freeze event is followed by wet weather. Therefore, growers should be particularly diligent about early bacterial canker control in the coming weeks after these cold spring temperatures.

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Mark Longstroth...Last week Michigan suffered a severe spring freeze event. The freeze that caused the damage was an advective freeze or wind freeze, not a radiation freeze. Most of the freezes that cause problems in the spring in Michigan are radiation freezes. These freezes occur after the passage of a cold front preceding a mass of cool dry air. Usually there is a stormy period as the cold front moves through followed by clearing and light winds. In a radiation freeze, the temperature falls during calm, clear nights and then rises again after dawn when the sun comes up and warms the earth. The damage tables we use for estimating damage and when we can protect against freeze damage are for radiation frosts.

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Mike Haas and Larry Gut...As the daytime temperatures start to approach 50ºF, it’s time for pear growers to initiate their pear psylla management programs. Applications of dormant oil with or without lime-sulfur is a common first step. Once adults are found, and before egg laying begins, many growers will make an application of oil combined with an insecticide. The insecticide kills the adults while the oil is thought to delay egg laying by females coming into the orchard from overwintering locations. By delaying egg laying, eggs will be deposited over a shorter time frame, and the resulting generation of psylla will be closer together in age. Then it should be easier to target a specific life stage with an insecticide.

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Mira Danilovich and Bill Shane...In July 2006, plum pox virus (PPV) was detected in a plum tree sampled at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) has worked very intensively since that time to test the Prunus trees at risk at this and other Michigan locations. After testing more than 50,000 samples in late summer, no new “positives” were found in Michigan.

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Zachary Huang...If you have been listening to radio or reading papers the last few weeks, chances are that you have already heard about the alarming honey bee die-offs around the country. The phenomenon is officially named “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). This disorder has the media all excited because it is large in scale (25 states are affected), came in quick (colonies that were fine in August/September became collapsed around October/November), and hit people hard (many beekeepers with hundreds to thousands of colonies are losing 50-90% of their colonies). The worse of all of these? We do not know what causes it!

[Read the rest of this article...]

For emergence graphs of other common fruit pests refer to our web site at http://www.maes.msu.edu/tnrc

International Plant Management, Inc., of Lawrence, Michigan, will sponsor a variety showcase on September 7, in cooperation with Cornell University, Michigan State University and Summit Tree Sales. It will feature tree fruit varieties including new test varieties from several locations in Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

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For emergence graphs of other common fruit pests refer to our web site at http://www.maes.msu.edu/tnrc

For emergence graphs of other common fruit pests refer to our web site at http://www.maes.msu.edu/tnrc

Rufus Isaacs...For those interested on EPA’s restrictions on Imidan and removal of Guthion, see the article for blueberry growers at: http://www.ipm.msu.edu/cat06fruit/f07-11-06.htm#3

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For emergence graphs of other common fruit pests refer to our web site at http://www.maes.msu.edu/tnrc

Joy Landis...The crops are growing and so are the web resources we are offering at MSU for fruit production. Here are some sites to check if you haven’t visited our webs recently.

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For emergence graphs of other common fruit pests refer to our web site at
http://www.maes.msu.edu/tnrc/06traplinecover.htm

Mark your calendars for July 21, 2006 for the Controlled Atmosphere (CA) Clinic to be held at the Clarksville Horticulture Experimentation Station in Clarksville, Michigan. The CA Clinic targets information of interest to packinghouse and storage operators handling and storing fresh fruit. Attendees should expect to be brought up-to-date on the most recent scientific findings and related practical developments in the field of CA and refrigerated storage.

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Two Cherry Variety Showcases will be held this summer in Michigan. International Plant Management (IPM), Summit Tree Sales and MSU Extension are jointly sponsoring both events.

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Jim Nugent...A new deer repellent called BrowseBan has just received federal registration for use on apple, cherry, grape and several vegetable and field crops. It contains the active ingredients capsaicin and related capsaicinoids. It is recommended for use at 1 gallon of product per 100 gallons of water.

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Philip Schwallier...Some years it is desirable to try to enhance return bloom on apple varieties that tend to be biennial. This is especially important on trees that have a heavy crop load. Most years treatments of summer NAA applied at 5, 7 and 9 weeks after bloom will increase return bloom even on varieties that have heavy crop loads and tend to have poor return bloom.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Rufus Isaacs...You may have noticed the cream colored “tents” of the eastern tent caterpillar, Malacasoma americanum, in trees along field edges and along roadways. These tents are made in the fall by this native insect in wild cherry, apple, and crabapple, and may also be found on hawthorn, maple, cherry, peach, pear and plum.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Mark Whalon, John Wise, Larry Gut, Dave Epstein and Andrea Coombs...Plum curculio (PC) overwinter as adults in the soil, litter and ground cover trash in orchards and in surrounding areas. As soon as daytime and evening temperatures exceed 60°F, PC will begin to move, especially when a light, misty rain and/or humid nights occur simultaneously with early spring warming trends. The weevils move into orchards and begin to feed as leaves begin to emerge. Their feeding activity expands to blossoms, stems and fruit as they become available.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Phil Schwallier...There are four points that I would like to make concerning Apogee for the 2006 application season. First is timing, second is rate per acre, third is thinning relationships, fourth compatibility.

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Zachary Huang...Honey bees continue to be plagued by a number of pests and diseases. Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) continue to be the worst pest of honeybees and cause high mortalities during fall and winter. The mites are largely resistant to Apistan (a pyrethroid), which has been used for more than a decade. They are also starting to become resistant against CheckMite+" (an organophosphate), registered as a Section 18 (emergency registration) in most states including Michigan for the last six years.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Eric Hanson...Newer berry varieties often require many years to fully test and recommend for commercial plantings. However, growers may want to purchase a few plants of promising new varieties to see if they fit on their farm. Here are a few types that are too new to recommend for large-scale planting, but have shown enough potential to plant on a trial basis.

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