Orchard Outreach at Annual ESA Meeting
Tree Fruit IPM Extension Specialist Betsy Beers participated as a presenter or co-author on several outreach projects at the Entomological Society of America (virtual) annual meeting in November.
- IPM IN PEARS
- Co-authored a poster presented by Louis Nottingham entitled Will it stick? Suppressing spring pear psylla with autumn-applied kaolin, which detailed how this application timing had provided promising results compared with spring application and control plots.
- Co-authored a presentation by Rebecca Schmidt-Jeffris entitled The potential for incorporating erythritol into pear IPM: Non-target effects on mites. In addition to determining only minor, non-lethal impacts on predator mites from this organic compound, the bioassay study indicated potential control against pest mites.
- CODLING MOTH IPM
- Presented Irresistible new techniques for codling moth control in Washington with co-author Kacie Jo Athey, which detailed the checkered history of CM control (including arsenicals, DDT, and organophosphates) through insecticidal rotation, mating disruption, and sterile insect release (SIR).
- Co-authored a presentation by Kacie Jo Athey entitled It’s raining moths: Drone technology for sterile codling moth release that detailed a pilot study of SIR via drone in Washington state.
- STINK BUG IPM
- Co-authored a presentation by Adrian Marshall entitled Exploiting stink bug migration: The intersection of chemical, physical, and behavioral control methods describing their team’s work with exclusion netting, insecticidal netting, attract-and-kill, and novel trap designs to manage brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) in orchards.
- Co-authored a presentation by Nicholas Mills entitled Why is life cycle vulnerability key to the development of biological control programs for invasive stink bugs? The talk demonstrated how biocontrol impacts can be overestimated and discussed how to arrive at realistic expectations for success.
Urban Training Video Highlights IPM Benefits of Pruning
Urban IPM Coordinator Carrie Foss continued her work with professional pesticide applicators in western Washington this quarter. In this time of remote content delivery, the videos Carrie has been developing over the past few years are even more relevant.
The urban IPM team’s Pruning as an IPM Tool is the latest training video to be released. It premiered at continuing education webinar on December 8th to an audience of 480 licensed pesticide applicators. The new video featured three International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborists. Alan Haywood presented information on the reasons for pruning, including pest management, and the importance of knowing about the biology of the plants being pruned. Bess Bronstein explained in detail how certain insect and disease problems in the maritime Pacific Northwest can be prevented or managed with pruning. Many specific examples were shown and explained. Christina Pfeiffer demonstrated the ISA best management practices (BMPs) for proper pruning techniques. She also explained what actions to avoid in order to forestall the process of decay entering the pruning wounds or causing plant stress. One applicator who also teaches IPM to Master Gardeners wrote:
I appreciated the first two presentations connecting pruning practices with pest control. I mention this to my students, but these speakers provided a more nuanced perspective that will flesh out my talks.
The Pruning as an IPM Tool video will be used in the months ahead for continuing education webinars and also posted to the WSU Pesticide Safety Education website.
Herbicide Resistance and Other Small Grains Topics
Small Grains Extension Specialist Drew Lyon found his focus returning to herbicide resistance throughout the 4th quarter, with outreach activities including the following:
- Released a Pacific Northwest Extension publication, Best Management Practices for Managing Herbicide Resistance, along with co-authors Judit Barroso (Oregon State University), Joan Campbell and Doug Finkelnberg (University of Idaho), and Ian Burke (WSU).
- Presented Herbicide Resistance: Implications for Weed Management in Wheat at the 2020 Last Chance Pesticide Seminar on December 8. The webinar offered pesticide recertification credits to attendees and also included presentations on noxious weed control, winter wheat diseases, and vertebrate management.
- Offered a retrospective on the issue in Herbicide Resistance: Looking Back and Forward, a post in the popular Timely Topics section of the WSU Wheat and Small Grains website.
- Welcomed guest author and postdoctoral research associate Katherine (Katie) Dentzman to the Weeders of the West blog to discuss emerging cooperative initiatives in her post Community Management of Herbicide Resistant Weeds: An Update.
And what would a 4th quarter report be without a look back at the year—especially THIS strange year. Lyon closed out the year with a WSU Wheat Beat Podcast in which he hosted Aaron Esser, veteran Extension agent for Lincoln and Adams counties, for a podcast entitled 2020: A Jekyll and Hyde Year Revisited.Watermelon Grafting Articles Published
Watermelon Grafting Articles Published
Vegetable Horticulture Specialist Carol Miles and PhD candidate Pinki Devi have been working to extend results of their research into vegetable grafting as a means of improving plant quality and adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress. Commercial production and demand for grafted high-value plants such as tomato, eggplant, and watermelon have begun to expand in the U.S. as growers begin to understand and appreciate the benefits of this technique.
- “Advances in watermelon grafting to increase efficiency and automation” by Devi, Scott Lukas (Oregon State University), and Miles, was published in the journal Horticulturae In October. This review article provides a summary of the team’s new discoveries regarding grafting watermelon with the splice grafting technique, and provides insights to guide future research and technology development that will support the expansion of watermelon grafting in the U.S.
- “Impact of grafting on watermelon fruit maturity and quality” by Devi, Miles, and Penelope Perkins-Veazie (North Carolina State University) was published in the same journal in December. This article provides growers and industry representatives a summary of fruit quality of grafted watermelon in response to rootstock-scion combinations and environmental conditions. It addresses biotic as well as abiotic stress tolerance, and fruit maturity and quality with specific reference to hollow heart and hard seed formation, flesh firmness, total soluble solids, and lycopene content.
Managing Onion Pests While Reducing Risk
Regional Vegetable Specialist Tim Waters presented at the Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association (virtual) annual conference November 18-19. He spoke on Wireworms in Vegetable Crops during the Pest Management session and participated, along WSU’s Allan Felsot and crop consultant James Zahand, in a panel discussion entitled Life without Chlorpyrifos.
Waters’ work with the WSU Social & Economic Sciences Research Center to survey onion growers came to fruition this quarter. An initial survey of IPM practices and information sources took place in 2018, with a follow-up survey in 2020. In the span of two short years, the survey indicated:
- The number of growers who used Lannate (methomyl) three times per season was reduced from 30% to 7%, following Waters’ strong recommendations to limit the insecticide’s use to no more than twice per season.
- The number of growers using the narrow-spectrum, reduced risk insecticide Movento (spirotetramat) increased from 33% to 58% twice per season, a positive outcome likely related to the decrease in Lannate use.
- Use of the organophosphate Lorsban (chlorpyrifos) decreased from 85% to 38%.
- Use of the reduced-risk seed treatment FI500 increased from 69% to 85%.
- The second survey reported that all growers surveyed scout for thrips.
Results also indicated that the three most important sources of IPM information to the onion growers surveyed were, in order of importance: 1) WSU at winter meeting presentations, 2) fellow onion growers, and 3) One-on-one conversations with WSU Extension. Waters and the rest of the Extension IPM team are always happy to be in the company of other growers as trusted sources of information.
IPM Outreach to Grape and Mint Growers
Washington State IPM Coordinator and Extension Entomologist Doug Walsh presented IPM information at the annual meetings of state grape and mint growers this quarter.
- For the Washington State Grape Society (virtual) annual meeting on November 18, Walsh’s topic was Thrips, Flea Beetles, and Cutworms: Pest Management for Insects We Don’t Always Spray For. Topics included:
- Identification and life cycle information for these three pests
- Discussion of biocontrol agents
- Possible insecticidal controls and their ramifications in an IPM program
- A noteworthy success story of the barrier treatment method he developed to reduce pesticide use for cutworm control
- Bonus information on black vine weevil, June beetle, wireworm (click beetle) and other minor pests.
- For the Washington Mint Growers Association (virtual) convention on December 1, Walsh’s topics were Integrated Pest Management for Mite Pests on Pacific Northwest Mint and Nitrogen and Water Management on Spearmint. Details included:
- Survey work showing mite presence in spearmint.
- Types of miticides and implications of their use in an IPM program.
- A refresher course on combating miticide resistance.
- Interactions between fertilization, irrigation, and pest management.
Getting to the Root of Phylloxera in the Vineyard
Extension Viticulturist Michelle Moyer and Regional Extension Specialist Gwen Hoheisel were interviewed for an article and participated in a video for Good Fruit Grower magazine in which they shared tips for finding phylloxera in a grape vineyard. The 11-minute video provides a hands-on look at how, when, and why to scout for phylloxera in the vineyard, and the article delivers additional information on this pest and its management, such as the following points:
- Moving soil from infested to noninfected blocks can increase the risk of spread.
- Spread is more likely to be along the row as opposed to across rows.
- Phylloxera like moderate soil temperatures, so scouting is most productive in early spring or in the fall around harvest time.
- Normalized Difference Vegetation Index video (NDVI video) can be a useful tool to identify pockets of low vigor that might be associated with phylloxera infestation.
The print article is also available in Spanish.