Facts for Fancy Fruit 2002-09 July 10, 2002


Index

Late Season Grape Disease Control Mites Japanese Beetles Brown Rot Of
Stone Fruits IHS Summer Meeting Orchard Rules Posters USDA Specialty
Crop Block Grants Wine Grape Workshop Upcoming Meetings


Crop Conditions: Blueberry harvest is getting underway in the main
production areas of North Central Indiana. Japanese beetles have
emerged in force and are attacking just about everything.  Bramble
harvest continues in all areas of the state.  Japanese beetles and
anthracnose are the main problems at this time.  Strawberry renovation
should be completed as soon as possible.  Grapes are at bunch closing.
Diseases and 2,4-D damage are common this year due to the excessive
rainfall this spring.

Late Season Grape Disease Control: Disease pressure is extremely high
this year. IÕve seen cases of severe black rot, Phomopsis, and
anthracnose.  Downy and powdery mildew have also shown up already.
Black rot on grapes has been the subject of numerous phone calls and
emails from homeowners as well.  Early July usually signals the shift
from early season to late season disease control strategy in grapes.
From now until harvest the spray interval can generally be extended to
14 to 21 days (depending on rainfall).  While we can normally extend
our spray intervals this time of year, growers with severe black rot
leaf spot should be prepared to respond to an infection period with one
of the sterol inhibitors such as Nova, Bayleton, Rubigan, etc within 72
hrs of the start of the infection period.  The amount of inoculum
present in some vineyards is very high and a rainfall event of one inch
or more will result in significant spore release.

	On most grape cultivars the last application of mancozeb is
recommended two weeks post-bloom because it has a 66 day pre harvest
interval.  One of the other protectant fungicides must be substituted
for mancozeb for the remainder of the season.  Materials currently
available for late season disease control are captan, ferbam, ziram,
and copper. Ziram has been granted a 24c label (Special Local Needs)
for Indiana that allows its use during the late season (21 day PHI).
The protectant should be combined with one of the sterol inhibitors
(SIs) such as Nova, Bayleton, Rubigan, etc.  Another option is one of
the strobilurin products such as Abound, Flint, or Sovran.

	We are at bunch closing so it is time to make an application for
Botrytis bunch rot control on varieties that are susceptible such as
tight-clustered hybrids (Vignoles, Seyval) and most vinifera,
especially Riesling and Pinot noir.  Use either Rovral, Vangard, or
Elevate and follow the guidelines in the 2002 Indiana Commercial Small
Fruit and Grape Spray Guide (ID-169). (Bordelon)

Mites:  The hot dry weather is beginning to produce some mite
outbreaks.  Last week at the summer hort meetings, several growers
reported that they were having problems with European red mites in
apples.  Bruce Bordelon brought a blackberry sample back from Vincennes
that was heavily infested with two-spotted spider mites. The good news
is that in most of the samples I have looked at, it appears that there
are substantial populations of predatory mites present. This indicates
to me that overwintering survival of the predators was good, and that
growers are doing a good job of conserving the predators. However, in
favorable weather like we have experienced lately, the pest mites may
be able to out distance the predators, and you may need to get involved
to get the pests under control. Now would be an excellent time to be
scouting your fruit crops for mites and taking appropriate actions if
necessary.  (Foster)

Japanese Beetles:  Japanese beetles are emerging in all areas of the
state. As you all know, they are voracious feeders on almost all fruit
crops. Sevin is the most effective material labeled for use on most
fruit crops. The preharvest interval (PHI) is 3 days for the tree
fruits, which usually does not present a problem. However, the PHI for
Sevin on the small fruits is 7 days, which can present a huge problem
during harvest. Imidan is moderately effective and has a 3-day PHI,
which may help somewhat. Malathion has a 1-day PHI on blueberries and
brambles, although it is not the most effective insecticide.
Insecticides containing pyrethrum can be used up to the day of harvest,
but provide only very short-term control. Be sure to adhere to the
preharvest restriction and Restricted Entry Intervals for whatever
pesticide you choose to use.  (Foster)

Brown Rot Of Stone Fruits:  As peach harvest approaches be aware of the
need for sprays to control brown rot.   Warm, wet, humid weather is
particularly favorable for brown rot.  Pre-harvest sprays for brown rot
should be started no later than 3 weeks before harvest or when fruit
begins to color.  For information on fungicides and timing of spray
applications see  ID-168, Ò2002 Indiana Commercial Tree Fruit Spray
Guide Ò.  In addition to maintaining sprays for brown rot, also
maintain sprays for insect pests that may injure fruit and allow brown
rot to gain a foothold.  Use care in the picking and handling of fruit
to avoid punctures and skin abrasions.  Any break in the skin of the
fruit enables brown rot to more easily cause infection.  (Pecknold)

Necrotic Leaf Blotch On Goldens:  Generally we first start noticing
necrotic leaf blotch (NLB) on Golden Delicious in late June or July,
when the weather becomes hot and sticky. Symptoms of NLB are leaf
yellowing and drop; often patches of brown blotches develop along with
leaf yellowing.  Symptoms develop suddenly, almost overnight, and in
waves, generally from June through August.  The cause of NLB is not
known; however, the disorder is thought to be related to air
temperature, light intensity and soil moisture.  It is most severe when
a cool, rainy period of 4 - 5 days precedes several hot, sunny days.
Although it appears NLB is not fungal caused, the disease is reduced
when ziram is included in the cover sprays.  (Pecknold)

IHS Summer Meeting:  A smaller than usual, but enthusiastic group
gathered at the Dow AgriSciences and Purdue research farms on July 1-2
for the summer meeting of the Indiana Horticultural Society.  Our
thanks go to Jerry Keaton and the other folks at Dow for their
hospitality in hosting our visit and evening round-table discussion.
We would also like to thank Burk Thompson and his staff at the Purdue
Horticulture Research Farm and Jay Young and Nate Linder at the Purdue
Meigs Farm for helping organize our tours at their respective
facilities.

	This years tours were of research farms rather than commercial
production orchards so the overall objectives of the operations was
entirely different.  Those who attended learnt of some of the latest
research results and also now have a greater appreciation of what is
involved in field research.  Next year weÕll be back at a commercial
operation.

Orchard Rules Posters:  At the Indiana Horticultural Society (IHS)
summer tour last year, we discussed making up posters of orchard rules
to be posted for U-pickers.  This has been done Ð see the picture
below.  So far we have versions in English, Spanish and Chinese and
hope to have them also available in Korean soon. A few people did not
want rule #5 included (no knives in the orchard) so for those folks we
can custom print with just the first 4 rules. The size is 36Ó wide and
48Ó high.  The cost is $10.00 each, with the first one free to Indiana
Hort. Society members or those who have contributed to the Return Bloom
Fund in the last 3 years.  To order, specify the language you want and
email or phone Peter Hirst. Please make checks out to Purdue
University.




USDA Specialty Crop Block Grants:  We recently received notification of
the success of several applications for grant funds from the USDA block
grants program.  Although not all applications related to the fruit
industry were successful, we are pleased that the following requests
were funded:

¥ Specialty crops marketing position at Purdue.  We will soon begin
advertising this position, which will have a considerable extension
component.  School of Agriculture Dean Vic Lechtenberg has committed to
fund this position after the 2 year period of the grant expires, which
greatly magnifies the $150,000 received from the USDA. ¥ Funds to
expand the Indiana Horticultural Congress.  We received $15,750 over 3
years to help fund the cost of additional outside speakers. ¥ Fruit and
Vegetable website.  $28,879 was received to help cover the costs
associated with developing a website to act as a central portal to all
our fruit and vegetable information online.

We would like to thank the growers and other industry people who wrote
letters supporting our applications, and weÕre excited about the new
opportunities presented by these grant funds.

Wine Grape Workshop: The Purdue Wine Grape Team will hold a workshop at
Huber Orchard and Winery in Starlight on Monday August 5 from 9:00 am
(Indianapolis time) until about 2 pm.  Lunch will be included.
Following the workshop the Indiana WinegrowerÕs Guild will hold its
summer meeting. The meeting will conclude with dinner and wine tasting.
 The workshop will include vineyard tours and a discussion of harvest
parameters, hands-on wine laboratory equipment demonstrations, and a
discussion of holiday marketing ideas.  For complete information visit
www.indianawines.org and click on Calendar. Please RSVP so we can make
lunch and dinner arrangements to Jill Blume, 765-494-1749 or email
blume@purdue.edu.


Upcoming Meetings:

July 9-12	American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section
conference. Baltimore, MD. Contact www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/asev.

July 17-19 	Workshop on developing and implementing HACCP for Juice and
Cider Industries.  Holiday Inn at the Pyramids, Indianapolis.  For a
brochure and program see
http://www.foodsci.purdue.edu/outreach/haccpcider/02brochure.pdf  or
call Peter Hirst for a copy of the program.

August 5	Purdue Wine Grape Workshop and Indiana WinegrowerÕs Guild
summer meeting. Huber Orchard and Winery, Starlight. See details above.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Bordelon, 1165 Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN  47907-1165, 765/494-8212,
e-mail: bordelon@hort.purdue.edu

Peter Hirst, 1165 Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN  47907-1165, 765/494-1323,
e-mail: hirst@hort.purdue.edu

Paul Pecknold, 1155 Dept. of Botany & Plant Pathology, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1155, 765/494-4628, e-mail:
pecknold@purdue.edu

Rick Foster, 1158 Dept. of Entomology, Purdue University, West
Lafayette, IN 47907- 1158, 765/494-9572, e-mail:
Rick_Foster@entm.purdue.edu

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