Spider Mite Control During the Summer

There are currently lots of options to control spider mites in orchards. However, preventing outbreaks by avoiding pesticides toxic to predatory mites and their alternative prey is always first choice. If uncontrolled, spider mites can go through a single generation in 7-10 days during summer and increase their numbers exponentially. Monitoring helps to follow spider mite population growth and to intervene when necessary.

Use Pesticides Wisely to Avoid Resistance

Repeated use of pesticides with the same mode-of-action used in the orchard can accelerate the development of insecticide resistance. WSU recommends that when you choose insecticides, keep track of which ones are being used so that you alternate materials with the different modes-of-action (shown in DAS) between generations.

Monitoring Codling Moth Damage

Monitoring codling moth at the end of each generation gives a good indication of the success of your management program and where in the orchard damage occurs. The sampling protocol for the Taiwan protocol can give you good accuracy and is simple to implement. Banding trees can serve as monitoring and control technique.

Which Type of Apple Sunburn is in Your Orchard?

Sunburn browning is the most prevalent type of sunburn, and is caused by high fruit surface temperatures (FST) and ultraviolet radiation. The FST required to induce sunburn browning varies by cultivar, but is in the range of 113 to 120 °F (45 to 49 °C).

Coming Up – DAS User Survey 2013

WSU-DAS is an evolving application that changes in response to users' needs. But to do this we need your answers to a few questions so we can continue to make this application easy and useful and demonstrate its impact on the Washington tree fruit industry.