Tree stage for McIntosh (Greenville area)
4/5/05- Silver tip
4/10/05 – Green tip
4/18/05 – Half inch green
4/22/05 – Tight cluster
4/29/05 – Pink
5/5/05 – King bloom
5/11/05 – Full Bloom
5/17/05 – Petal Fall (Petal Fall in Newport County is 5/27/05)

Visual Observations

6/10/05 – This hot, dry weather we have been experiencing is great for controlling apple scab and also for bringing out overwintering plum curculio. Orchard Radar predicts that all of the overwintering plum curculio should emerge by June 13 in Greenville and June 20 in Newport. This means you should have insecticide coverage through that date to control all overwintering plum curculio. Since Imidan and Guthion last 10-14 days, your final plum curculio insecticide application needed to be made no sooner than May 31 in Greenville and June 6 in Newport. If you don’t have insecticide coverage through the end of plum curculio emergence, plum curculio will continue to feed and lay eggs in fruit.Of course, these models are estimates and predictions, but they can be a useful tool when making a decision to spray. It is best to scout in your orchard and look for fresh plum curculio egg laying scars. The fresh scars are mushroom shape and often have an orange tinge to them. There is no tan callus tissue associated with newly made egg laying scars.
-It is definitely too late to control first generation leafminer mines. If you now see too may mines from the upper leaf surface, consider applying Provado around July 10 in Greenville orchards (July 14 in Newport orchards) to control the second generation mines.
– Orchard Radar predicts that San Jose scale crawlers will start emerging June 21 in Greenville and June 26 in Newport. If you found the red spots on fruit last year, consider treating for San Jose scale this year. It is most effective to apply an insecticide at first crawler emergence and again at peak emergence, about 10 days later. The insecticide Esteem works quite well against SJS. It works even better if you include a highly refined summer oil at 1 quart/100 gallons of finished spray mix. Imidan, Guthion, and Provado will also control SJS.
– Be sure to be at Sweet Berry Farm for the third and final twilight meeting for 2005. See the Meetings page for directions.

6/5/05 – I hope you all applied an insecticide before this hot weather. Plum curculio should have been very active this weekend. Hopefully it will continue to stay warm and so end plum curculio quickly. According to Orchard Radar, plum curculio emergence should end June 17 in the Greenville area and June 19 in the Newport area. This means that you need insecticide coverage up to that date. Since insecticide applications generally lasts 14 days, you need to apply an inseciticide up till June 3 in Greenville or June 6 in Newport. This is assuming we get less than 2 inches of rain over the next two weeks. Does this make sense? Take a look at the plum curculio tables of Orchard Radar. Here’s a direct link to the plum curculio table for Greenville and here’s a direct link to Newport’s PC table.
– We are at the end of primary scab season. But since we had such wet weather the week of May 22, I think you should keep all apple trees protected with fungicide for another week. Scab lesions from that wet week should just becoming visible now. This time of year it takes 10-14 days for scab lesions to become visible. If you are finding scab in your orchard, apply Sovran, Flint, Syllit or Captan at full rates. Repeat the application in 5-7 days. Hot, dry weather is the best medicine for burning out scab. Let’s hope this weather continues for a while longer.
– Leaf miner mines are visible from the lower leaf surface of fruit cluster leaves now. If you find 13 mines out of 100 fruit cluster leaves, consider applying Provado or Calypso now. Very soon it will be too late to spray these chemicals and kill the larvae in the mines. It may already be too late. If you can see more than 10% of the mines from the upper leaf surface, it is probably too late to spray and you should wait and try to control the second generation in July.
– Red mites do not seem to be a problem now in any orchard I’ve checked. Red mites have begun laying eggs for the summer generations.

5/27/05 – I’m sorry I’ve been so bad about keeping this up-to-date. I didn’t know my life could get this crazy! The biggest concern is certainly apple scab. I hope everyone applied a fungicide today (5/27) or you will tomorrow. I did find apple scab lesions in 2 orchards on Monday May 23. That was before all this wet weather really started! I’m very concerned about scab in any orchards where scab lesions are already visible. Look now for scab lesions. On Monday I was finding them on fruit cluster leaves. If you do find scab, use full rates of Captan or Syllit or Flint or Sovran. Repeat the application in about 5 days. If this wet weather continues it will be extremely difficult to burn out scab.
– I’m not very concerned about insects so far. If you already applied an insecticide at petal fall, you can probably wait to make your first cover insecticide application. You can probably wait until the weather is expected to reach the upper 70’s. We may get some plum curculio activity this weekend, especially if we get warm (60-70 degree) evening showers. Sevin applied for thinning will also provide some plum curculio protection. If you haven’t applied an insecticide since bloom, consider applying an insecticide soon. European apple sawfly could be in your orchard and need controlling. (A petal fall insecticide would have controlled any European apple sawfly).
– Newport County apple trees appears to be 7-10 days behind the trees in Greenville.
– Be sure to check orchard radar for predictions on what’s to come. There is also information on thinning. For apples growing Providence and Kent County look at the Greenville Site. For orhards in South County and Newport County, look at the Newport site.
5/7/05 – Today’s wet weather is certainly an important apple scab infection period. We are at peak apple scab maturity, so there are a lot of spores out there ready to infect. If your trees were not well protected before todays storm (if a fungicide had not been applied within the last 6 days) plan to spray Rubigan, Nova, Flint or Sovran as soon as possible after the rain stops. I repeat, this is a major infection period!
5/2/05 – We did have our third apple scab infection period on Saturday, April 30 into Sunday May 1. According to Orchard Radar predictions, we could start seeing apple scab lesions around May 12. These lesions would be from the first apple scab infection period on April 23. It takes from 9-17 days to begin seeing apple scab lesions, depending on the weather. (That’ where Orchard Radar is so helpful – it keeps track of the weather and then uses developed models to make predictions. It’s another tool to help in decision making!)
– I hope to look for some hatched European red mite eggs today. They should have started to hatch. It is probably still beneficial to apply dormant oil, but reduce rates to 1 gal of oil to 100 gal of water. Oil is very effective against eggs that are just about to hatch, but not very effective against the nymphs once they have hatched. It takes a week or so for all the eggs to hatch, so there are probably still plenty of eggs to smother.
– Many peach growers have had trouble with Oriental Fruit Moth. According to Orchard Radar, the time to treat for first generation Oriental fruit moth larvae is May 23rd.

4/29/05 – We had an apple scab infection period on Wednesday, April27, and will probably have our third apple scab infection period on Saturday, April 30th. Now is not the time to miss applying fungicides. We have entering peak apple scab season! If you feel your trees have not been well protected before an infection period, apply a fungicide with kickback, such as Rubigan, Nova, Sovran or Flint.
– Orchard Radar is up and running! Check out many models about apple scab and insects using SkyBit weather data. You can view Orchard Radar for the Providence County and Newport County.
– I recorded a pest message this week and hope to update the recorded message each Friday. You can call the message anytime at 949-1456.
– I’ve only seen one larva of the winter moth or green pug moth this spring, but I haven’t been out looking much at all. Check your trees now for chewed holes in buds. Apply Imidan if you see much damage. Imidan will also help control tarnished plant bugs, which occassionally occur in high enough numbers to require an insecticide.
– Orchard Radar predicts European red mite eggs to begin hatching on May 1st. Dormant oil applications work best when applied before many mite eggs have hatched. Apply dormant oil soon!
4/24/05 – The wet weather of 4/23 & 4/24 is causing the season’s first apple scab infection period. I hope everyone applied a fungicide before the rain. If you did not, apply Rubigan, Nova, Procure, Flint or Sovran as soon as possible. Be sure to mix one of these fungicides with a protectant fungicide such as Polyram, Manzate, or Syllit.
– I have seen only one small larva that could have been a winter moth or green pug larva. Hopefully these pests won’t be a problem this year.
– I did find a few leafminer stuck on red sticky traps attached to apple tree trunks. I have traps set up in only 3 orchards. The traps can be deceiving. If there is good, calm weather in the spring, even small populations of leafminers can lay many eggs. The opposite is also true. If we have a lot of cool, rainy weather, even a rather large population of leafminer (say 30 per trap) can’t lay many eggs. Last weeks good weather would have favored leafminer survival. We usually start finding leafminer eggs around the tight cluster bud stage.
4/19/05 – MacIntosh trees are at half inch green to tight cluster.
When we do get rain, spores will be released and cause a possible apple scab infection period. It’s recommended to apply fungicide before the rain. Along with the fungicide, apply dormant oil at 1 1/2 gallons of oil per 100 gallons of water to control red mite eggs.
– There could be problems with winter moth this year. Check your buds for small holes and small caterpillars. Spray with Imidan if you find more than a few larvae.