Many readers will remember when a massive brood of periodical cicadas (Brood X) emerged throughout Indiana back in 2021. With their dark bodies, red eyes, and orange wings, these insects look like something straight out of the X-files, am I right?? There was lots of noise (male cicadas singing for the females!), lots of cast[Read More…]
Tree Fruit
Each spring, I know some of you may be using insect-pest monitoring traps for the first time, whether it’s in your orchard or backyard! It’s exciting to have these tools – they do the work for you, luring insects into a single location so you don’t have to guess when pests might appear. Moreover, you[Read More…]
Many of the pesticide products Indiana farmers use do not include specialty crops on the container’s label. These uses are often added through 24C Special Local Need (SLN) labels or supplemental labels, which can be difficult to locate. In response to this, the Office of the Indiana State Chemist created a “Pesticide Products- Special State[Read More…]
The Spotted Lanternfly is an invasive planthopper native to East Asia. It was introduced to the US in 2014 in Eastern Pennsylvania and has since spread to 13 other states including Indiana. The Spotted Lanternfly has 70+ host species including the invasive Tree of heaven (Alianthus altissma), grapes, apples, stone fruit, vegetables, hops, walnuts and[Read More…]
With last week’s thunderstorms and severe weather, fire blight continues to threaten crops: Hail can physically damage the tree and allow entry of the bacteria (Fig. 1) and secondary spread of the pathogen. Secondary spread of fire blight develops when stormy weather (especially hailstorms) occurs after the primary (blossom) infections. The amount of fire blight[Read More…]
There are so many different kinds of insects, but we often focus on the ones that cause damage (for obvious reasons). However, there are many beneficial, predatory insects you can be on the lookout for in your fruit plantings! These insects can be seen throughout the season, attacking aphids, mealybugs, caterpillars, mites, and even scale[Read More…]
I hope the growing season is going well for all fruit producers! For this issue, I am sharing a quick update on what we’re seeing in pheromone-baited monitoring traps placed in orchards at the Purdue Agricultural Center in Lafayette, Indiana (Tippecanoe County), as well as orchards of collaborating Indiana growers (thank you!) in Tippecanoe and[Read More…]
Some of our readers may have small, backyard orchards, or even just a couple of fruit trees (or vines, canes, and bushes!), that you enjoy for the aesthetics and also the fruit! If you’re like me, you’re thinking that having just a few fruit trees to manage won’t be so hard, and the effort will[Read More…]
The plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) is a small “snout” beetle (also known as a weevil – one of my favorite beetle groups!) that will feed on apples, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries. Both adults and larvae have chewing mouthparts and can damage fruits; adults by feeding and laying eggs in newly set fruit and larvae[Read More…]
Purdue Extension presented its first Fruit, Vegetable and Hemp Field Day post-pandemic at the Meigs Ag Center in July 2022. Extension Specialists and Graduate Students presented specialty crop research to 45 attendees. Attendees had only good things to say about the event. ” Great information and research.” “Great variety of experiences and knowledge.” “I felt[Read More…]