- Author: Mark Bolda
I had several growers drop by my office early this morning regarding the management and regulatory regime for light brown apple moth (LBAM). I really enjoyed give and take of our little charla in the parking lot and thought this might be beneficial to the some of you, so I write a summary of our conversation below:
How is it that there is so much LBAM around right now, especially in the organic strawberries? Although we can't say for sure when exactly the last flight of moths and subsequent mating occurred, but it's usually been in March that we have one, another in June and then another in September. Figuring on egg laying in late March, and subsequent hatch and growth, doesn't make it surprising that we are seeing a lot of larvae now. Too, as the growers pointed out, it was difficult to get in and spray because of all the rain so a pretty sizable cohort of larvae came through safe and sound.
How is it that the USDA and CDFA people find the larvae so easily in my field when my field crews can't? The USDA and CDFA people are professionals, and are number of them are very good. I heard of one inspector, who upon arriving at a suspect field and casting a glance around at the surroundings, declared that he'd find something there and within minutes lo and behold, had found a larva. If you want to be a good angler, you need to fish where the fish are, and that's what the inspectors are doing. They check the edges of the field very close, especially when next to wooded areas, and when they find one larva, they slow down and look around there real close because there are sure to be others. Make sure your crews know WHAT they are looking for and HOW to look for them to best utilize their time.
How about the twist ties for pheromone based mating disruption? Twist ties for sure are the first leg of a sound LBAM control strategy. We all need to understand however that these take time to work, since they are disrupting mating and therefore reducing total volume of eggs laid sometime in the future. No moths, eggs, larvae or pupae are being killed here, and it's just that the numbers of those future generations will be reduced. So those people who did not put twist ties out in March let LBAM adults mate freely and are seeing the consequences currently. It's not too late though, since putting the twist ties out now will serve to disrupt the upcoming moth flight in late May or June. Raise them up a bit on flags, lines or sticks over the canopy, and make sure to spread them out EVENLY over the field – no “barriers”, big blobs of twist ties in the middle of the field or any other funny business. Configurations like every 10-15 feet every third bed should get you to the requisite 300 ties per acre.
What should I be spraying in organic to control this – in strawberries I only have 3 sprays of Entrust and don't want to use them all now. Managing LBAM is a lot more difficult in organic than conventional to be sure. Any formulation of Bt doesn't seem to work all that well, and the material that works well, Entrust is limited to three applications max. I agree, I would not panic and blow out all of my Entrust applications this early in the game because I may need one in a pinch later on, so would pursue a strategy of regular Bt sprays to keep down populations. It's understood that Bt's, while able to kill smaller larvae outright, tends to just make the bigger larvae sick, they stop feeding for a while, and when they start feeding again the Bt is worn out. Therefore on occasion it might be a good idea to closely space the applications, to have fresh material on the plant for our survivors to feed on. It's worth noting too, that spraying in the evenings is better than in the morning, since UV radiation can break down Bt.
Don't forget about your surfactants either, they are pretty important when it comes to enhancing the physical and in some cases chemical efficacy of a pesticide.
Always bear in mind to read the label of the pesticide you are using and hew closely to the instructions therein.
Really great having the guys come by this morning and hope I was able to help some. My time is your time, so please let me know if you need more information.
- Author: Mark Bolda
UCCE Farm Advisor Mark Bolda will be providing a training on light brown apple moth (LBAM) that qualifies attendees to be an “approved scout” relating to the Compliance Agreement for shipment of berries to Canada. On completion of the brief training, attendees will receive a Certificate as a record of their participation.
This training will be held once in English and once in Spanish.
Where: UCCE Auditorium, 1430 Freedom Boulevard, Suite E, Watsonville, CA
When: April 24 – 8:00-9:00 AM in English
April 25 – 8:00-9:00 AM in Spanish
No pre-registration necessary. All are welcome to attend, even if they do not intend to ship berries to Canada.
No continuing education hours will be offered at this meeting.
Please call Mark at (831) 763 8025 if you have any questions.
- Author: Mark Bolda
UCCE Farm Advisor Mark Bolda will be providing a training on light brown apple moth (LBAM) that qualifies attendees to be an “approved scout” relating to the Compliance Agreement for shipment of berries to Canada. On completion of the brief training, attendees will receive a Certificate as a record of their participation.
This training will be held once in English and once in Spanish.
Where: UCCE Auditorium, 1430 Freedom Boulevard, Suite E, Watsonville, CA
When: May 10 – 8:00-9:00 AM in English
May 11 – 8:00-9:00 AM in Spanish
No pre-registration necessary. All are welcome to attend, even if they do not intend to ship berries to Canada.
No continuing education hours will be offered at this meeting.
Please call Mark at (831) 763 8025 if you have any questions.
- Author: Mark Bolda
This is more than tangentially related to our current challenge of USDA – CDFA protocols related to management of the light brown apple moth (LBAM). As most of you know, a field of strawberries or caneberries found to be infested with LBAM by USDA-CDFA personnel is closed until it is confirmed to be cleared of the larval stages of this insect. During the time of closure, the grower is forced to sell his or her berries within the quarantine resulting in lower prices from a less robust market or absent that opportunity, leave it to rot, resulting a total loss. While the government isn't showing with a truck, getting shovels and taking the berries, it isn't difficult to define the LBAM regulatory actions amounting to government taking of the crop.
http://news.investors.com/062215-758505-supreme-court-raisin-takings-law-unconstitutional.htm?p=2
The Supreme Court decision was in regards to the Raisin Administrative Committee marketing order which demanded up to 47% of the plaintiff's crop in a year. This was to support prices of raisins, but the case turned around what was fair compensation for the crop taken.
The opinion of Chief Justice Roberts is telling: “The Government has a categorical duty to pay just compensation when it takes your car, just as it does when it takes your home”, in a reference to the protections afforded by the Fifth Amendment of the taking of personal property by the US government, which yes does include something like raisins.
Admittedly, the broader applications of this ruling are unclear. This case concerns a marketing order rather than a regulatory regime such as that imposed by the USDA and CDFA for control of the light brown apple moth. Indeed, the Ninth Circuit court found the raisin marketing order to be constitutional since all growers benefitted from the program from the higher prices brought about by reduced supply. This could (arguably) be the case with the LBAM Program as well, since growers outside of California would benefit by not having to deal with this insect.
Whatever the outcome for our situation here, it's encouraging to see the Constitution at work protecting our rights.
- Author: Mark Bolda
- Author: Hillary Thomas
Growers and pest control advisors on the Central Coast should be alerted to the gravity of the current leafroller situation. Owing to a warm winter, large numbers of leafrollers, including light brown apple moth (LBAM), have been observed throughout the Monterey Bay area.
Berry growers need to be diligent in using best pest management practices for leafrollers (given in other posts on this blog as well as the UC IPM website) right now to prevent additional field shutdowns and regulatory scrutiny. The issue is particularly important for organic berry fields where worm control tactics are limited.
This is a very big deal, because the USDA – CDFA regulatory effort is still in full swing. If LBAM is detected in a shipment, it could very well result in field closure for a long period of time, handing eye watering losses to the grower. Very much worth paying attention to the matter of LBAM on the Central Coast.
In the way of review, growers shipping should have a compliance agreement issued to them by the County Agricultural Commissioner. Harvested fruit is inspected on a monthly basis at the cooler, and if a suspect LBAM larva is found, the shipment is held up. An investigation is launched during this time to confirm whether the larva is actually an LBAM. During this time, no fruit may be moved from the field that was the source of the lot. Results may take days to get back, and if it is confirmed to be LBAM by DNA laboratory analysis the USDA- CDFA people will visit the grower for an inspection of the block or field where the larva was found. It is very important to note that while the grower is waiting for results to get back on a suspect larva, he or she should be very active in cleaning up the field - pre-emptively treating with insecticides and removing leaf rolls.
If on inspection more larvae are found in the field (they don't miss many, your threshold of detection is very low), the field is shut down for shipment outside the area of quarantine, and regulatory sprays must be done and need to be repeated until inspections find ZERO suspect LBAM larvae in the field. Regulatory sprays have to be witnessed by USDA or CDFA personnel. The whole process can take a month or longer, when one figures in delays, shortage of inspection personnel and mandated limits on work hours for state and Federal employees.
Further elaboration on the inspection protocol can be found here:
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=4993
Compliance agreements issued to growers require weekly inspections (every seven days) for LBAM of the production field by a PCA or qualified scout. If this weekly scouting is not done or records of it not kept, a grower having a positive LBAM find (starting 30 days to harvest for export to British Columbia, Canada) will be in violation of the compliance agreement. This will result in the compliance agreement rescinded (ie taken away) and the possibility of a hefty fine.
PCA's are busy professionals, and sometimes the weather doesn't comply it might be difficult for them to get to the field every seven days. That's why it is so important for the grower to have qualified scouts on the farm doing weekly LBAM inspections (they are not difficult). Mark has held a number of trainings already, and will hold two more trainings; one in English on May 28 at 8 am at the UCCE office, 1430 Freedom Boulevard, Suite E (same office as before) and another on May 29 in Spanish at 8 am at the same location. The trainings aren't long, tops maybe an hour after which each participant will receive a signed certificate of participation. If you need help with management of leafrollers right now, you can contact Mark (mpbolda@ucanr.edu), or Hillary (hthomas@calstrawberry.org), directly to provide additional resources or to consult with you on the site specific issue, risk factors, and management options.
In short, yes, it's important to pay attention to leafrollers in your fields this year. Additional information in English and Spanish is included in this Green Sheet from the Commission that went out on February 18, 2015:
http://reports.calstrawberry.org/Reports/Green%20Sheets/02.18.2015_LBAM%20Advisory.pdf
