Unfortunately, I have not set up any apple maggot traps this year. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, one of your fellow apple growers set up 5 traps. I checked these traps today and did not find any apple maggot flies. Kathleen Leahy, a fruit consultant in Massachusetts, reported she has not caught apple maggot flies in any commercial blocks so far. I looked for maggot stings on URI’s Redfree apples today. These mature early and attract apple maggot flies early – and I did not find any stings. This lack of apple maggot fly is not unexpected due to our lack of rain. Rain is generally needed to encourage the flies to emerge. I do expect apple maggot flies soon after we get rain. And remember, apple maggot flies are easy to control with Imidan, so half rates or perhaps even lower rates work well. If using Avaunt or other newer insecticides, do not reduce the rates.
I was in an orchard today where I found more predatory mites than pest mites! Other orchards need to be treated with a miticide. Scaffolds newsletter from NY reports that Acramite tends to be more effective against two spotted spider mites, and Nexter works better against red mites. Zeal and Kanemite are both good miticide options.
We haven’t had problems with rain washing off pesticides! So Topsin M + Captan, Flint, Sovran and Pristine all give 21 days of protection against sooty blotch and fly speck. Captan gives 10-14 days protection, depending on rate, and Ziram gives 10 days protection.

I’m starting to think about leaf tissue analysis sampling. If you want me to take a sample, call or send an email to me. 874-2967.

Next message Thursday July 24