Hello Apple Growers,
I did visit a few apple orchards this week. As we enter the end of the season, think about applying your final apple maggot fly spray sometime in mid-August. Even if you apply a fungicide later, an insecticide against apple maggot is not needed in late August or September.

I did see an orchard with a high European red mite population and another orchard where just a bit of bronzing from red mites occurred. It may make sense to spot treat a few Red Delicious or Empire trees rather than spray a whole block. Be sure to be careful of the preharvest interval.

The only other problem I saw in orchards this week was incredibly dry conditions. If you can water, water! The brief showers are not penetrating the soil much at all. It looks dry a few minutes later!

I hope to scout next week for hatched obliquebanded leafrollers. I am very encouraged that we haven’t had an outbreak of leafrollers this season. I’ll let you know what I find next week.

Kerri Stenovitch has been contacting growers about participating in a joint ad in “Edible Rhody”. If you’ve never seen the magazine you should take a good look. It’s a great publication and I think an ad there will be money well spent. If you haven’t heard from Kerri you can contact me or call her at Phantom Farm – 333-2240. Be sure to let her know soon if you will be participating – the deadline is next week.