UMass IPM Fruit Loop

Cooler than average temps are keeping the plum curculio at bay and making apple fruit thinning an even more challenging prospect than usual. Listen in as Dr. Greene once again gives us the skinny on best thinning practices for this time of year. Dr. Piñero counsels us on weekly insect activity as well as insecticide options which is augmented by this week's guest article from MSU's Dr. John Wise....

Chock full 'o' goodies this week with everything from our traditional rundown of degree days and upcoming pest events to a deeeeep dive into fireblight models with some thinning and pollinator health action thrown in for good measure. This week's Healthy Fruit was a solid collaboration from Dr. Jaime Piñero, Dr. Dan Cooley, Dr. Duane Greene, myself (Hawkeye) and Jon Clements, who also serves as fe...

Who doesn't love a good aphid love story? Everyone, or... no-one. Either way, worst love story ever. Good thing we are not in the love story business. Tune in to hear the latest insect and disease monitoring and management news, straight from the aphids tailpipes.  

A stone's throw back to last week's (April 19, 2021) Healthy Fruit Newsletter. Status of weather, buds, insects and diseases covered to the minute and Dr. Duane Greene gives us his perspective on Prohexadione-calcium (Apogee, Kudos) for Growth Control and Fire Blight Containment. Music credits: Intro/Outro: Strobotone - San Fran Interlude (Edit)  Strobotone is licensed under a Attribution-Non...

2021 continues to keep us on our toes, and its not even May yet! Tune in to hear about the latest state of drought, apple scab, fungicides, more early season insect pests, frost considerations, a short from CCE's Michael Basedow and... There may even be a guest voice tucked in there for ya! As always, forgive me and my weak jokes and references (probably) no one but me gets. Music credits: Intro/O...

Its the all Hawkeye channel until I can hoodwink... I mean, get someone else to join me in the weekly Healthy Fruit shenanigans. Nonetheless, listen in for your in season weekly run down of what all is afoot in the orchard and field. This week you will find budstages, disease updates and early season insect pest considerations. Enjoy!  Music credits: Intro/Outro: Strobotone - San Fran Interlu...

As you may know the fruit Extension Educators from New York and New England have teamed up to organize a series of winter meetings, via zoom of course. These meetings are being held once a week throughout the rest of the winter. Extension Educators, and faculty from New York, New England and beyond have been kind enough to join us to share their research and experiences. In this episode of the fru...

Short and action packed. This episode of the UMass IPM Fruit Loop takes you through a super duper quick review of just what it is we are talking about (erm... it decision support systems, y'all) and then a fairly comprehensive description of how to interpret apple scab risk forecast output from both RIMpro ( https://www.rimpro.eu/ ) and NEWA ( http://newa.cornell.edu/ ), two DSS currently availabl...

'20-'21 Off Season Release Episode 1 In this episode, Hawkeye discusses degree days, forecast model development and implementation of climatic variable within those two structures. Just about everything you have ever wanted to know about decision support systems and forecast models, plus maybe a little extra. ;-)

'20-'21 Off Season Release Episode 1  In this episode, Hawkeye dives deep on key pathogen and insect pest life cycles to lay the groundwork for a larger discussion about what forecast models are, how they work and how models, and the decision support systems that implement them fit into an IPM program. This is the first in a multi part series. How many parts you get depends on just how long w...

Flashback with Hawkeye to April 28, 2020 when rain was abundant and temperatures were... unpredictable. This episode discusses the (then) current state of the primary apple scab season for 2020, foliar nutrient applications, increasing insect pest captures and a brief update on small fruit concerns. 

This Flashback Fruit Loop takes you back to April 21, 2020. This episode of the IPM Fruit Loop covers early season apple scab and fireblight (courtesy of Dr. Duane Greene) considerations, and more insect trapping and monitoring hot topics. Even as a flashback, this episode contains valuable IPM information you can use again and again. Tune in! 

In this episode of the IPM Fruit Loop, Hawkeye takes you back in time to April 7, 2020. Ahh, the days when buds were just emerging from dormancy ascospores were just beginning to mature and it seemed like there might still might be a chance that summer could be something like normal. Refresh your memory on increased branching methods, pheromone and sticky card insect thresholds and other early sea...

Tune in to hear Jon's Apple Maturity Report,  get a "second opinion" on some other apple news, and wish Extension Expert- Sonia Schloemann "Happy Trails."  A special shout out to her for all her time, knowledge, and effort she shared with us!   It's all sweet as pie in the end.

Lens has gone back to classes (virtually) and was not able to join me this week. SO, Lucky you! (hahaha) This is an all Hawkeye episode, new music, same goofy me. A new invasive insect pest breaks onto the scene, setting up shop in New Jersey and Staten Island NY. Jon's first official (official 'cause I said so) apple maturity report is rolled out and the drought marches on. 

It's a bit of a challenge to record a podcast without electricity, but lights are back on after Tropical Storm Isaias got done throwing it's fit in New England.... and Hawkeye and Lens got to it!!  A bit punchy perhaps, they deliver insect, disease, and other fruitful news in between picking up tree branches and salvaging food!  Tune in and get a few laughs too!!!

Just a small introduction to your UMass IPM Fruit Loop hosts, Hawkeye & Lens.  We appreciate your time and will do the best to keep you in the loop!

Hawkeye and Lens travel back in time.  The destination? , The beginning of the growing season with a touch of March Madness!! A lthough the time has passed, this rewind is not in vain.  Climb aboard the time machine, and recall what pests, diseases, and other important twists were thrown our way in Spring 2020.  It may just give you tips as to what 2021 has in store!  

As Hawkeye prepared for the Annual Summer Meeting online, Lens flew solo on this one... if you don't count there roaring thunder and motorcycles driving by!  

Moving into mid-summer, Hawkeye and Lens talk shop.  The pests seem to  take center stage.  So it's good to have those drugs for the "bugs"  (more accurately, insects) on hand!  Irrigation is still key while  dosing those destroyers and there's more fun stuff on the horizon.  Tune  in to stay in the loop!!  A special preview into some Cold-Hardy Grape p...

As an extension of this week's episode, Hawkeye and Lens deliver the lowdown on Spotted Wing Drosophila and salty magic tricks to help you find those maggots!  

Moving into mid-summer, Hawkeye and Lens talk shop.  The pests seem to take center stage.  So it's good to have those drugs for the "bugs" (more accurately, insects) on hand!  Irrigation is still key while dosing those destroyers and there's more fun stuff on the horizon.  Tune in to stay in the loop!! Our production manager, Lens (me) forgot to include some audio regarding som...

It's just Hawkeye and Lens on this one!  As much of the region remains "abnormally dry," irrigation is the conversation.  Join us to get a gauge of how deep you need to take it,  learn to discern between good mites and bad mites,  and stay in the Healthy Fruit Loop.   

This episode is long like the week.. full of ups and downs, all fruitful if you chose to take a bite.   Hawkeye and Lens talk about near drought conditions and keep you in the loop with upcoming pests and diseases.  Extension Expert Sonia Schloemann sat down with Lens, virtually to talk about all things small fruit!  With PYO strawberries happening this weekend, you won't want...

Water, and the circus seem to be this week's theme!  A special Thanks to Tree Fruit Expert, Jon Clements for joining Lens to chat about apple measuring, thinning, and irrigation.  (Clarification: When Lens refers to backyard pools, she is specifically referring to above-ground pools.)  Tune in to see things "Jon's Way."  Hawkeye and Lens also keep you in the loop by covering de...