General situation  After a slow, late start to the season, summer has finally arrived and is staying. Western San Joaquin will see temperatures building over the next few days and settling into an extended period with 100+ highs.  All that heat will really accelerate thrips development and increase their activity. 

Thrips generations and TSWV  We have extended the population projection out to September 1.  It looks as though  generation 4 adults will probably peak around July 14th. Generation 5 adults should peak around August 4, with generation 6 following around August 25.  Thrips numbers have been low across much Central Valley until now, but TSWV is relatively easy to find in most areas, albeit at relatively low incidence.  Resistance-breaking strains of TSWV are now ubiquitous in the San Joaquin Valley, so varieties with the SW-5 gene will need protection in situations where thrips pressure is high.  

In normal seasons most of the crop would be far enough along that our main concern would be generation 4, but there are quite a few late-planted fields and generations 5 and 6 could bring in TSWV before these crops are big enough to shrug off virus strikes.  Late-planted crops might require additional protection this year, particularly in locations with a history of TSWV damage.

General Situation  After the wet winter and extended cool spring, the annual summer weather pattern finally seems to have established itself. Temperatures for the next 10 days will see daily maximum values in the mid 70's to 80F, reaching the mid 80's by the first few days of June.  Planting has been happening rapidly over the last 2-3 weeks and crops will pull away quickly with settled warm conditions.

Thrips and TSWV So far, thrips numbers have been low and we are not hearing reports of TSWV so far in this area  This is all good, but we are concerned that the late planting times will mean that the pre-flowiering high risk period for TSWV will be extended this year.  We are predicting that Generation 3 adults will peak around June 18 and Generation 4 adults will peak around July 10.  Given the slow start and low leves of TSWV so far, unless there is a local source of TSWV, Generation 4 seems the more likely source for any significant chance for TSWV to spread around, and the more likely to pay off in terms of investment in thrips control.  Contact your local UCCE adviser if you want to discuss options specific to your situation.

Resistance breaking TSWV Remember reistance breaking strains of TSWV are now widespread in the San Joaquin Valley, so varieties carrying the SW-5 resistance won't necessarily stand up on their own without thrips management if there are local sources of TSWV.  At locations with a history of TSWV it's probably better to treat SW-5 varieties the same way as varieties without the resistance gene.

General situation  We're a little later than normal kicking off this season's projections for thrips, but the season is off to a slow start so we're not in too bad a position. It's still cold overnight.  It has also been wet, so we can expect a slow start for thrips, and soil-borne pupae populations have probably taken a hit with soils being saturated for a long period.  Field access might be an issue in some areas because of water-logging, delaying planting.  The current projections for the season, based on ocean surface temperatures, are for a very hot summer so we might ramp up very fast once the wet season storms finally come to an end.  Growers in northern counties should remember that there are now Resistance Breaking (RB) strains in the region, so resistant varieties might not stand up to TSWV without protection.  As always, we'll be focusing our attention on suppressing the 3rd or 4th generation of thrips depending on whether we see TSWV early.

Thrips population development  Taking our usual January 1 start date, the temperatures since the turn of the year are projected to cause generation 1 adults to peak in the next 4-5 days.  Assuming things start warming up soon, we're predicting generation 2 adults will peak around May 17th.  We don't want to make projections any further ahead than that until we see if the weather is going to settle into its summer pattern.

General situation: The main season crop is in the ground and mostly well-established in the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley. The next 10 days is forecast to range from the high 70's to mid 90's, which is ideal conditions for thrips to develop.

Resistance breaking strains of TSWV:  Resistance breaking (RB) strains of the virus have now been confirmed pretty much across the whole range of tomato production so SW-5 varieties are no longer guaranteed to shrug off any early infections.  After a few years of relatively simple TSWV management we're moving back into a period when a whole-system, IPM, approach will be needed to keep the virus at bay.

Thrips projections and management: We've extended the degree day model out to the end of July.  Currently, the model is showing us that we're probably in the middle of the second post-winter population.  Generation 3 adults will hit peak activity in the first week of June, with generation 4 adults following about three weeks later.  These are the two key generations of thrips to control to prevent damage to the crop; growers who are considering investing in thrips control treatments are likely to see the biggest impact if treatments are applied any time from now through the end of June.  We have had a few reports of scattered TSWV in crops and the aim now should be to stop thrips from spreading the virus from those few initial infections.