@haldog Interesting. We haven’t had a bad blight year here for five or six years. Here in a bad year Goldrush will get some blight but after cutting it out (using Ugly Stub method) it sails right along. No rots on it here even in zip lock bags. What’s your rootstock and is it pruned to very open center with full sun?
“Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide, derived from the crude extract of the Chrysanthemum flower (Pyrethrum). Pyrethrins are the active chemicals in pyrethrum. “Pyrethrum” and “pyrethrin” are often used interchangeably. Pyrethrum is a fast-acting contact poison that “knocks down” susceptible insects. Pyrethrum induces a toxic effect in insects when it penetrates the cuticle and reaches the nervous system leaving the insects paralyzed. Pyrethrum may also have a repellant effect. Since pyrethrum is a contact poison, the target pest must be present and hit by the spray.”
Insect Pest Management for Organic Crops: Botanicals for Controlling Insect Pests
The disadvantage of pyrethrum is that it does not persist for long, but, when bad weather is imminent, this is not so great a disadvantage. Spray on a warm evening after the bees have gone to bed. Any curculio out walking around is a goner.
Hi Olpea, Can I tank mix Actara with Immunox?
I’ve not personally mixed the two, simply because I don’t use myclobutanil (Immunox) much. That said, I wouldn’t be the least bit worried about tank mixing the two. I’ve tank mixed other locally systemic group 3 fungicides with Actara, with no problem whatever.
Just remember when tank mixing the order is 1/3 water, then dry compounds (i.e. dry flowables, water dispersible granules) agitate to mix the dry compounds. Add another 1/3 of the water. Then add water soluble liquids. Then add emulsifiable concentrates and mix. Lastly add surfactants. Then finish filling the tank with water and mix.
Those are all the recommended steps. Do I follow those to the Tee. Generally not. The agitation on my airblast sprayer is so vigorous and aggressive. I can skip some steps without any issues of clogging, or clumping.
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Hey I wanted to follow up on the Grandevo/Venerate virus products for curculio. Grandevo supposedly sterilizes the eggs so mamma curc is just shooting blanks. I am seeing some very strong evidence for this now… early on I didn’t use it, and only the apricots have live curcs in them. All the apples and plums I have taken apart except for a single plum don’t have any trail after the bite… the egg never hatched. I took apart over a hundred fruits to check.
Originally when I bought Grandevo and Venerate they were only talking about Venerate for the curc, but based on what I am seeing this spring it might be that Grandevo is the better of the two. I used Venerate from the beginning on the apricots, and only added Grandevo later when I found it was also now labeled for curc.
I am generally seeing about 1/3 of the usual curc activity in terms of bites. Some of this could be due to a long trend of cooler than usual weather this spring, but some of it I would put down to the Grandevo and perhaps the Venerate.
Anyway, overall I am getting optimistic that the Surround/Grandevo combo could be a very effective one-two punch for the curc.
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Did two sprays of Surround, haven’t seen a single PC bite this year. I’m bagging perfect fruit now. Cool temps must have done it. But am glad to know about Grandevo as this year was an aberration.
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That is interesting … maybe the Grandevo is not doing much to the number of bites. I still expect that the number of non-fertile eggs can be attributed to the Grandevo.
We are going to get some warm weather starting Weds, it will be interesting to see what that does to curc activity. They can inflict a lot of late damage in years like this. I am doing some thinning but less than I usually do at this fruit size due to a potential late kick-in from the curc. I am needing to put down heavy Surround now for the cicadas, so I will also include Grandevo for any late curcs revving up in this warm spell.
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What do cicadas damage? Seeing their holes pop up around the yard now.
Cicadas lay their eggs inside branches. In the past, this has caused a lot of damage to my trees. During, you may see smaller branches breaking off, but overall there is not much immediate visible damage. However, the tree will form significant callous at the wounds, and disease can enter these areas.
So it sounds like in your experience cicada damage is not to the fruit themselves, but to the branches of the fruit tree due to insertion of eggs? Therefore heavy surround spraying of the branches it’s helpful, as it may confuse the females and make them think that they’ve landed on a stick-shaped piece of clay, rather than a twig?
Scott, thank you for sharing the info about Venerate (made from Bukhderia bacterium) and Grandevo( made from Chromobacterium subtsugae) which are fascinating.
It’s incredible that smart humans have exploited and harnessed biological warfare of bacteria to kill insects…. Especially when considering that one of the bacteria, had they been alive when applied to plants, are known plant pathogens.
I wonder how long it will take the insect to develop resistance, the selective pressure must be intense.
Curious, is there likely to be more Plum Curcilio damage in the mid-Atlantic region? In years past I have seen it last roughly 3 to 6 weeks. In Virginia PC season started two weeks ago …
A Virginia cider orchardist told me I’m liable to see up to three generations of PC here in coastal Md 7B. Edit: probably incorrect info per Scott and only one generation PC where I am, but two some places further South.
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Yes, the cicada only damaged the branches. I’ve never used surround and am not sure if it would confuse Cicadas regarding branches. If they show up in my area again I am going to cover the small trees with mosquito netting as much is possible. I don’t think doing this would be effective against pc because they could already be on the tree when covering it.
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@scottfsmith It looks like there are 2 types of Venerate. Are you using the CG one or the XC?
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The CG one is for pot growers, XC is for everyone else.
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I don’t think that is accurate. There is one generation in the north and two in the south. I have personally never seen any signs of a second generation in my orchard, and I have seen many hundreds of PCs with my own eyes in the first generation period.
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They have been active where I am for about a month. But, they were not laying an appreciable number of eggs until about two weeks ago.
I recall past years with this prolonged cool period is they can do a lot of late strikes when the weather finally warms. I have a really good coat of Surround on now but am going to re-coat soon here for that reason. If you are using a bug killer there is less worry than with Surround, you probably killed 'em.
Sweet cherries have curculio hits. I haven’t sprayed them, but i have sprayed everything else. Nights are about to stay really warm so should be lots of activity.
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For a while there I thought I might come away with very little damage this spring. But the last few nights have been warmer and I’ve noticed a lot more damage PC today. I sprayed with imidan and tomorrow I’ll spray with surround. Although I’ve come to hate spraying surround.
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