Fruit and Vegetable News

Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)  Adult SWD captures remained high at most locations this past week; with captures at Forest Lake “exploding” to 1000 to 2000 SWD/trap (10-fold higher than last week). At Rosemount and Hastings, numbers increased to 200-300 SWD/trap. At all sites, summer raspberry is particularly vulnerable to attack at this time, and fall raspberry will soon be a concern as well. For these crops, high-tunnels fitted with fine nylon mesh continues to be the best management option. Where netting is not available, insecticidal protection will be necessary for most crops, since given the high numbers. For details on SWD trap numbers this past week, view the SWD page at the FruitEdge SWD page . SWD trap catch numbers are updated weekly (Tuesdays); comparisons are also available for 2018-2019.  SWD female (left), with close-up view of ovipositor (for egg-lay), and male (right) with characteristic dark spots on each wing (C. Guédot, Univ. of Wisconsin). As noted in previ...

Spotted wing Drosophila on a raspberry. Photo: Charlie Rohwer, UMN In  S eason 3 Episode 6  of What's Killing My Kale,  Annie talked with Dr. Mary Rogers, an Assistant Professor studying organic food production systems in the Department of Horticulture. They discussed recent research findings from Dr. Rogers team, as well as other farms and researchers around the country, about the best ways to manage spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) organically.  You can listen to and download the episode here.   What's Killing my Kale is also available on Apple Podcasts and  FruitEdge . If you enjoy listening to our podcast, please leave a review on iTunes. As always, reach out and let us know if there are any topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes!

Bill Hutchison, Eric Burkness, Anh Tran, Dominique Ebbenga & Suzanne Wold-Burkness MN Extension IPM Program, Dept. of Entomology, University of Minnesota Fig. 1. Spotted wing drosophila male (left), with characteristic spots on the wings, and female (right), with serrated ovipositor (egg-lay device). Photo: Sheila Fitzpatrick, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Pacific Agri-Food Research Center, Agassiz As noted previously, our earliest SWD trap catch dates this year occurred with single adult flies caught in forest edge locations adjacent to crops; the earliest catch was May 23rd at Hastings. Since July 8th and during the past week, SWD numbers for traps located in berry crops (mostly blueberry, summer raspberry) increased substantially. One exception to this is the Hastings site, where only wine grapes are grown; berries are still very small and green (not attractive to SWD, but the fly is present). The following table summarizes the average weekly trap catch for ea...

Authors: Bill Hutchison, Eric Burkness, Anh Tran, Dominique Ebbenga & Suzanne Wold-Burkness MN Extension IPM Program, Dept. of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul campus Our earliest spotted wing drosophila trap catch dates this year occurred with single adult SWD flies caught in forest locations adjacent to crops; the earliest catch was May 23rd at Hastings. We did not see any substantial increase in numbers until this past week, and especially for the period 6/28 to 7/1; both within crop fields and adjacent wooded areas. It’s clear that SWD did not take time off for the 4th! SWD Adults on ‘Jewel’ black raspberry, southeastern MN (2017), S. Wold-Burkness. Trap catch highlights - What to Watch For With 5 locations reporting this past week, reflecting a range of crops and fruit maturity, we observed totals of 58, 32, 5 and 2 (per 3 traps), at Houston Co., Hastings, Rosemount and Forest Lake, respectively. At Waverly, we also had a big increase to 40 flies (5 ...

Authors: Bill Hutchison, Eric Burkness, Lu Yin, and Matt Clark. The foliar form of Grape Phylloxera (GP) is quite common throughout Minnesota and most eastern grape growing regions of the U.S. Although we have experienced a late spring so far this year, the first grape leaves for most hybrids have started to appear; this is a good time to begin monitoring for the “yellow crawler” stage of GP, as the crawlers hatch from their “mother” galls (including a female with several eggs, Fig. 1). Grape Phylloxera Life Cycle In brief, the GP life cycle is quite complex, with galls formed on both root and foliar portions of the vine. However, given the genetic background of the cold-hardy grape hybrids in the Midwest region, the primary potential for damage is the presence of foliar galls formed by GP. Much of this information is taken from a recent publication by one of our graduate students in Horticultural Science, Lu Yin (Yin et al. 2019; see full citation below). Fig. 1. Mature grape ph...

If you have not yet checked out our new podcast on fruit and vegetable pest management, called " What's Killing My Kale ," this is a great time to give it a listen. It's easy - just click on the episode titles, and hear the recording out of your phone or computer. Japanese beetles enjoy a Marquette grapevine leaf near Red Wing, MN. Also pictured: Downy mildew.   Photo: Annie Klodd Despite the name, it's not just about kale. We release timely episodes on all kinds of pest topics, based on the insects, diseases, or weeds that are currently causing problems for Minnesota fruit and vegetable crops. The podcast is hosted by Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal . Each episode is an interview with an expert - either a researcher, farmer, or Extension educator - about the latest and most effective ways to manage that pest. Each episode can be found on the UMN FruitEdge website: https://www.fruitedge.umn.edu/kalepodcast This month's episodes included: Episode 1...