FruitNet Weekly Report

MAES Home | Field Stations | Station Home | Publications | FruitNet Weekly Report

Nikki Rothwell
District Horticulturist

Erin Lizotte
District Fruit IPM Agent

Bill Klein
Farm Mgr, NWMHRS

Duke Elsner
Agricultural & Regional Viticulture Agent

Rob Sirrine
Leelanau Extension Director

May 13, 2008

GROWING DEGREE DAY ACCUMULATIONS AS OF MAY 12th AT THE NWMHRS

Year	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	18yr. Avg.
GDD42	334	430	485	394	310	318	351.7
GDD50	151	196	230	181	131	133	161.6

Growth Stages at NWMHRS (5/12/08—4:30 pm)

Apple: Pink
Pear: Bartlett: 1^st Bloom
Sweet Cherry: Hedelfingen: Early petal fall
Napoleon: Early petal fall
Gold: Full bloom
Tart Cherry: Montmorency: 75% Bloom
Balaton: 25% Bloom

Apricot: Late petal fall
Plum: 50% Bloom
Grapes: Bud burst
WEATHER REPORT

Spring does not seem to be coming to northern Michigan this year. We continue to have cool days and cold nights. Our average temperatures remain in the high 40’s to low 50’s. We are at 151 growing degree days (GDD) base 50 and 334 GDD base 42. Last year at this same time, we had accumulated 196 GDD base 50 and 430 base 42. We have had no substantial rainfall in the last week. Today, Tuesday, May 13 will be the warmest day of the week where meteorologists are predicting temperatures in the low 70’s.

CROP REPORT

Because of the low temperatures, we have moved very slowly in terms of phenology. Sweet cherries are still in bloom and in early petal fall all over the northwest, and unfortunately we have had little honeybee activity with this cool and cloudy weather. Montmorency tart cherries are at 75% bloom at the NWMHRS, and Balatons seem to be moving along more slowly and they are at 25% bloom. Apples are at the pink stage for most varieties.

Many area growers have observed unusual sweet cherry buds in some orchards in the region. See article below.

We have also been detecting more damage in Montmorency than we anticipated last week. These findings have come as a bit of a surprise as our initial estimates showed little damage to blossoms. The damage also seems spotty, and we have detected damage even in good fruit sites.

PEST REPORT

Aphid nymphs have been sighted in higher numbers throughout apple orchards in the area. Larger obliquebanded leaf roller larvae are also on the move. Red mite eggs are hatching, and adults are moving onto leaves. Two-spotted spider mites still appear to be at relatively low levels, but have begun laying eggs where they are observed on the underside of leaves. Our trap line at the station is showing moderate spotted tentiform leafminer pressure. American plum borer and green fruit worm moths have also been caught in baited traps in our cherry blocks. No significant rainfall has occurred since May7^th and no apple scab infections have been predicted since the 6^th.

WINTER DAMAGE EVIDENT IN SWEET CHERRY BLOCKS
N.L. Rothwell, District Horticulturist

Many area growers have observed unusual sweet cherry buds in some orchards in the region. Some of the buds on a branch look reddish in color and are fairly swollen in appearance, almost like they are ready to open. These buds are on the same branch as others that are in full flower. The strange buds look puffy and when squeezed, they feel ‘empty’. In fact, when the buds do finally open, they are indeed empty. These vacant buds do not contain the normal flowers or blooms, just a few small leaves (Figures 1 and 2).

Although there are two potential causal agents of this swollen/empty bud, winter damage or Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV), we suspect this situation was caused by cold winter temperatures. ‘Red bud’, a term often given to trees that show symptoms of PNRSV, do have these swollen red buds and a lack of flowers. This virus shows up when we have warm temperatures during bud formation (~75 F), and we reached these temperatures in the third week of April. However, we have never documented PNRSV in sweet cherries, and all trees with these signs so far this season have been in low lying areas of the orchard. Based on this information, we conclude that the recent loss of flowers is due to cold temperatures.

Most likely this winter injury happened in January. Temperatures reached into the forties in the first weeks of the month, and overall daytime temperatures were above freezing. These warm temperatures made young trees susceptible to extreme cold, which happened on Sunday, January 19^th—the temperatures dropped from the mid thirties during the week to a high temperature of 8° F. Another drop in temperature happened on the night of 30 January, where the day time temperature read 44° F, and the overnight temperature plummeted to 3.7° F. These temperature extremes likely caused the damage we are seeing in young sweet cherries.

Figure 1. Empty bud on damaged sweet cherry at NWMHRS

Figure 2. Swollen, red bud on damaged sweet cherry at NWMHRS.

CIAB REFERENDUM APPROVED

We received late last week word from the USDA that the CIAB was approved overwhelmingly by the growers and handlers voting in the referendum. The CIAB will continue to operate for another six years.

Growers approved the renewal of the order with 81% of the producers voting in favor of the order. These voters represented 86% of the voting volume.

Handlers approved the renewal of the order with 78% of the voting processors voting in favor of the order. These voters represented 91% of the voting volume.

You can see the USDA's announcement at:
www.ams.usda.gov and then click on "Newsroom" at the top of the home page. You will find the announcement there.

SIGN-UP FOR THE CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM (CSP) HAS BEEN EXTENDED

CSP is a voluntary conservation program and has a unique role among USDA programs. It identifies and rewards those farmers and ranchers who meet the highest standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations. It creates powerful incentives for other producers to meet those same standards of conservation performance on their operations, and provides public benefits for generations to come.

Only landowners and producers in designated watersheds are eligible to sign-up for CSP. In Michigan, six watersheds have been designated since 2004 and 574 Michigan producers were accepted into the program. As funding becomes available, NRCS announces the addition of new watersheds into the program.

The Boardman River/Charlevoix River Watershed has been selected to participate in the 2008 CSP sign-up. More information about the sign-up can be found on the Boardman Charlevoix River Watershed Web page http://www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp.html.

Many agricultural producers in Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Antrim and Charlevoix Counties are eligible to sign up for this rewarding Farm Bill program. The CSP sign up period is now April 18 – May 30. Agricultural producers that have signed up to date are receiving anywhere from $60 - $80 per acre on lands enrolled into the program!

Call your local NRCS office for more details and to set up a pre-interview appointment:
-Traverse City USDA-NRCS Service Center 941-0951 ext. 103
-Bellaire USDA-NRCS Service Center at 533-8709 ext. 101

Information on cherries is available at the new cherry website: http://www.cherries.msu.edu/

Insect and disease predictive information is available at:
http://www.enviroweather.msu.edu/home.asp

This issue and past issues of the weekly FruitNet report are posted on our website at: http://www.maes.msu.edu/nwmihort/faxnet.htm

ACTUAL AND PREDICTED DEGREE-DAY
ACCUMULATIONS SINCE MARCH 1, 2008

Please send any comments or suggestions regarding this site to:
Bill Klein, kleinw@msu.edu

Last Revised: 5-13-08