11 



A REPORT ON THE 1986 MASSACHUSETTS APPLE IPM PROGRAM 



William M. Coli, Daniel R. Cooley, Kathleen Leahy, and Ronald Prokopy 



University of Massachusetts 



Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Keith Bohne , Bill and Henry 

 Broderick, Dana Clark, William Flint, Jesse and Wayne Rice, Ed Roberts, and 

 Tony Rossi for their cooperation. We also thank Glenn Morin and Robin Spitko 

 (New England Fruit Consultants) for their scouting reports which we included in 

 the weekly pest message on several occasions, and for the harvest injury data 

 in Table 1. Special thanks to Sue Butkewich and Tom Green. 



Program funding was provided in part by U.S.D.A. (Smith-Lever 3(d) Pest 

 Management), the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture, and grower 

 contributions. Individual grower support of the Apple IPM program and the Pest 

 Alert messages totalled $2870 in 1986, an increase from 1985. In addition, the 

 Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association, Inc. provided a grant of $1,600 which 

 was used to replace the aging IPM vehicle. Our "new" vehicle, which we use to 

 travel to monitored orchards and research sites, is a 1983 Ford LTD, and has 

 already begun to develop a sticky trunk. We sincerely wish to thank the 

 growers and the MFGA for their continued interest in and support of the 

 program. 



Five commercial orchard blocks (plus a San Jose scale-infested commercial 

 block in Lancaster) and one block at the Horticultural Research Center (HRC) 

 were monitored weekly for arthropods and pathogens affecting fruit trees. Scab- 

 infested leaves which had been placed in wire cages at these 6 sites in March 

 were collected weekly and examined using squash mounts and counts of mature 

 ascospores, to determine apple scab spore maturity. In addition, temperature 

 and rainfall were recorded at the Horticultural Research Center (HRC), and 

 other pest information was gained by occasional orchard visits and reports 

 from Sue Butkewich, Tom Green, growers, Extension workers in other states, and 

 private-sector consultants. 



This information was used to reply to grower calls and write twice-weekly 

 Entomology Pest Messages from April 8 to September 10. Plant Pathology messages 

 were written weekly during the primary scab season, and in response to observed 

 problems afterwards. Messages initially were transmitted to regional agents via 

 the University computer's mail program, but after August 1 were shifted to a 

 grant-funded, microcomputer-based, bulletin board system (BBS) called INFONET. 



Entomology and Plant Pathology staff made a combined total of about 100 

 orchard site visits during the year, assessing pest problems faced by large and 

 small commercial orchardists. Staff also gave 27 Extension talks at grower and 

 other group meetings and 2 talks at professional association meetings, and 

 authored or co-authored 5 Fruit Notes articles and several journal or 

 proceedings articles. Entomology staff again cooperated with Dr. Rick Weires, 

 Hudson Valley Lab, on the Annual March Message. Bill Coli gave an invited talk 

 at the 29^*^ annual meeting of the International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association, 

 entitled "Techniques of Integrated Pest Management for Commercial Orchards." 

 Plant pathology initiated cooperative research on delayed, early-season 

 spraying with Dr. William MacHardy of the University of New Hampshire and Dr. 

 David Rosenberger, Hudson Valley Cooperative. 



