Wild Couple of Weeks

April 16, 2009

Within two weeks of my last post we found our first plum curculio egg deposited on fruit within our monitoring block. Egg deposition began on 5 April, fruit were 3/8 inch diameter. Peak plum curculio (PC) trap capture occured by March 27 and first targeted sprays were set to go out by April 3.

But.., windy rainy conditions, frequent occurences this spring, prevented spraying and following behind was a freeze warning we had to contend with for the mornings of 7 & 8 April. In our test orchards our 1st PC spray went out 11 April. This was 7 days later than we would have desired.

One thing in our favor is that any fruit that might have been infested before our spray was made will be aborting by next week. Below are weekly PC totals from my area.

Week Ending Number PC
3/20 25
3/27 74
4/3 50
4/10 42
As of 4/14 31

Freeze injury to fruit crops have been reported throughout many areas of Alabama as a result of the April 7&8 freezes. Advective freeze injury occurred at higher elevations and wind exposed edges of fields the first night and lower elevations the second night.

Crop losses ranged from heavy to light depending on temperatures, duration, stage of growth, and elevation. Similar temperatures were recorded over a large area of the state. Regional Extension Agents are still collecting data on different fruit crops and level of overall damage.