When winter moth eggs hatch depends on temperature and other factors. I don’t expect eggs to hatch until after red maples start blooming and when McIntosh apple buds begin to crack open and expose a little bit of green tissue.      Winter moth eggs tend to hatch at McIntosh apple ‘green tip’ and red maple […]

Spotted wing drosophila numbers are building slowly even though we found an infested red raspberry way back on June 24. The heat and dry weather have most likely kept numbers down. We did find 6 infested red raspberries out of a 1/2 pint of raspberries purchased in Providence County on 7/20/16. I haven’t seen any […]

Hi Berry Growers, This dry weather is good for something – keeping spotted wing drosophila numbers down. SWD larvae were found in one raspberry in Newport County last week, but no additional larvae or adult SWD have been found in RI or New England. New York and Pennsylvania have been catching SWD adults in some […]

I have some good news and some bad news about caterpillars. First for the good news:  gypsy moth caterpillars have practically finished feeding, and forest tent caterpillars are finished as well (eastern tent caterpillars finished several weeks ago). Many gypsy moth caterpillars have died from the two diseases that typically keep gypsy moth populations under […]

So, winter moth caterpillars are finished or nearly finished for the year, but we are not finished with caterpillars. I’ve been frantically trying to answer emails and phone calls, but what I need to do is alert more people about what is going on in our caterpillar-infested state. Please look at attached pictures to help […]

According to one fire blight model there’s a potential fire blight infection period Friday and Saturday May 13 & 14, in Rhode Island (except Newport County). You can see this on Orchard Radar at https://extension.umaine.edu/ipm/ag-radar-background/ag-radar-apple-sites/ri-greenville-apple/#FIREBLIGHT The following is from Jon Clements at UMass:  In blocks with a history of fire blight, where trees are in […]

Winter moth caterpillars may still not be very visible, but they are out there. Caterpillars are about half their mature size, so the next couple of weeks is when caterpillars do the most feeding and cause the most damage to shade trees. I expect caterpillars to start dropping to the ground to pupate in about […]

Wet weather this week is creating one HUGE infection period for apple scab, but also for mummyberry in blueberries. Even if you sprayed right before the rain started, I think you should spray again this week during a dry spell. Don’t wait for the rain to be over to spray! You want the fungicide to […]

Winter moth caterpillars continue to feed and grow. Right now in Kingston, RI,  most caterpillars are 2nd and 3rd instars. When winter moths first hatch they are 1st instars, then they molt and become 2nd instars…  Once winter moths are 5th instars they continue feeding to complete development and then drop to the soil to […]

If you have a magnifying glass (10x is good) and you want to look for winter moth caterpillars, attached are a couple of pictures to help. Caterpillars are inside buds now, so to see winter moths, buds need to be peeled open. If a bud has caterpillars it is easier to find frass (insect poop) […]

Hello, What a difficult spring it has been! The weather and winter moth have not been behaving according to plan. The more normal weather forecasted for the next several days will expand fruit buds and most likely make it possible to reach winter moth caterpillars that are now inside buds or maybe still hatching. The […]

Not many caterpillars have been  found in tree buds, except one crabapple tree in Kingston where I found one caterpillar in every other flower bud cluster today. Caterpillars are tiny and difficult to find at this time. Don’t bother looking for caterpillars now! Wait another week or two until caterpillars are bigger and easier to […]

I checked my monitored winter moth eggs in Kingston this morning. Most eggs have hatched. I don’t think it makes sense to try and spray for winter moth this week unless your fruit trees and blueberries are right near the ocean. The next chance to spray apples, pears, and blueberries will be in a couple […]

All locations where winter moth eggs are being monitored have at least some blue eggs except eggs in Little Compton. All monitored eggs in Little Compton are still orange. Eggs turn blue about 2 days before hatching. I think it will be another week before eggs start turning blue in Little Compton. In Kingston & […]

Yesterday’s warm weather advanced winter moth eggs, turning some eggs blue in some locations. (Winter moth eggs are orange and then turn blue about 2 days before hatching.) In Warwick, RI there are several blue eggs and a few hatched caterpillars. In Kingston, RI about 10% of eggs turned blue. In Cumberland and Little Compton, […]

A few winter moth eggs have started to turn blue in Franklin, MA, and one hatched caterpillar was found there today. In southern RI, a few blue eggs have been seen on trees with 1000s of eggs. The more eggs available for monitoring, the more likely we are to find really early hatching eggs. Thursday […]

Hi Fruit Growers, Winter moth eggs have not started to hatch and I don’t expect them to hatch until we have a little bit of green tissue showing on the apple flower buds. With this warm weather and forecasted warmish weather, we could see green tip some time next week. This is a good week […]

Winter moth in Southern New England 2016 I’m afraid winter moth eggs will be hatching in March as they did in 2010 & 2012. The earliest hatch date recorded was March 21, 2012. I’m worried this year egg hatch could be even earlier. I set up tree wraps in 4 locations in RI, one in […]