2023 Small Fruit Meetings
The first small fruit meeting of the season will be held at Seaman Orchard at Roselend, in Nelson County. The meeting will run from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM. Contact Grace Monger, 434-263-7183 for additional information.
Spotted lanternfly training session: A Spotted Lanternfly Training Session for Christmas Trees, Tree Fruits, Grapes & Horticultural Products will be offered in Wytheville. There will be an in-person spotted lanternfly training course that will be held September 29, 2022 from 10:00 am – 12:30 pm at the Wytheville Meeting Center in Wytheville, VA. This training will be for producers of Christmas trees, tree fruits, grapes, and other horticultural products including vegetables.
This training will introduce the Spotted Lanternfly, and will dive into its spread, resources for growers, control methods, regulatory updates, and will provide information on how to comply with the SLF quarantine and permitting requirements.
The course is free, but registration is recommended to Kyle Peer, krpeer@vt.edu, or 276-694-4135.
This event is sponsored by Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Virginia Tech.
Spotted lanternfly egg
first hatch for 2022was reported on 21 April. First
adult emergence for
2022 was noted on 11
July.
This new invasive pest of vineyards and other small fruit crops moved
into eastern Pennsylvania in 2014, and has been
spreading.
During the 2018 season, the infestation zone in Virginia expanded from approximately 1 square mile block in Winchester, Frederick County, to about 18 square miles, and 40 square miles in fall of 2019. By the end of the 2020 season, the zone encompassed 140 square miles. On May 28, 2019, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) announced the establishment of a quarantine to limit the spread of SLF; this zone was significantly expanded in July 2022. As of 2022, in addition to the original counties of Frederick, Clarke and Warren, SLF is established in Albemarle, Augusta, Carroll, Page, Prince William, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah and Wythe Counties, plus the cities of Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Manassas, Manassas Park, Staunton and Waynesboroor a map of the current Virginia distribution. This includes the entire Shenandoah Valley, with spread further into the Virginia Piedmont.
There are 15 broods of periodical cicada. Two of
these will be affecting Virginia fruit growers this year
(Brood 9) and next Brood 10). Emergence of adults
is expected in early-mid May. Adults first
started appearing in Patrick County apple
orchards on 17 May. The
egg-laying behavior of females will lead to death of
pencil-diameter branches, and can be devastating to
young orchard and vineyard blocks. In addition to
the web page linked in the title, check out this recorded 20-minute presentation.
VDACS
establishes quarantine for spotted
lanternfly
Late Tuesday afternoon (5/28), Virginia
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS)
announced the establishment of a quarantine for spotted
lanternfly (SLF), an invasive pest insect that was found in
Winchester in January 2018 (ext.vt.edu/spotted-lanternfly). This insect threatens to be a major
pest of fruit crops, forest trees, and other plants in
Virginia. Despite an eradication effort in 2018, SLF
increased its distribution from about 1 square mile to 16
square miles. This year, the overwintering eggs began
their hatch on April 27, earlier than last spring..
The press release on the SLF
quarantinelinked here. A direct link to the quarantine
document is linked
here as well. The regulated area includes the
City of Winchester and Frederick County. Some of the
key provisions of the quarantine are:
1) Regulated articles (plants, outdoor
industrial materials, shipping containers, outdoor
household articles, and others) may be moved from the
quarantine area if they have been inspected, and are
accompanied by a permit;
2) Regulated articles may be moved
within the quarantine area following an inspection; a
certificate is not required.
3) From April 1-Dec 31, regulated
articles may be moved through the regulated are without
stopping, or stopping only for fuel or traffic conditions.
4) To obtain a permit to move regulated
articles, a person doing business must complete a
VDACS-approved training (see below) and agree to train
employees on identification of SLF.
The training needed to obtain a SLF
permit is available
online. There is a $6.00 fee.
For questions on the quarantine and related issues:
For questions about the quarantine or movement of material
or trucks, or the compliance agreement, call VDACS.
Call the Richmond number (804-786-5525) even if its a
question about the Winchester area.
For questions about the training for the SLF Detection
Credentials, go to: ext.vt.edu/spotted-lanternfly. Look for a
purple button the right side of the page to start the
process.
For suspected finds of SLF, go to either
the detection portal:
2023
Revisions to Fruit Pest Management recommendations:
The revised Pest Management Guide
for Home Fruit, Commercial Vineyards, Commercial Small Fruits,
and Hops, are now available. The tree fruit manual,
separate from the Pest Management Guide series, is also posted.
The guides are available free online
in PDF, and will also be available for purchase.
Spotted wing drosophila:
A new invasive pest of small fruit crops and vineyards moved
through Virginia in late summer 2011. Spotted wing
drosophila, Drosophila suzukii,
differs from other species of vinegar or pomace flies in that it
lays eggs in ripening fruit on the vine or plant, rather than in
overripe or rotting fruit material. This has the potential
to be a major problem for growers of soft-fruited crops.
More information is posted in a SWD page
in the Virginia Fruit web site. Hear an Adobe
Presenter presentation on spotted wing drosophila in
vineyard and berry crops. In May 2013, 24(c) labels were
approved for malathion 8F for blueberries and caneberries grown in
Virginia. Blueberry:
Allowing up to 2.5 pts/acre for spotted wing drosophila.
Maximum number of applications is 2, with a minimum of 5 days
between applications. Do not exceed a total maximum from all
sources of malathion of 5 lb ai/acre/year. Do not apply
within 1 day of harvest. Caneberries: Allowing an additional application for spotted wing
drosophila. The maximum application rate is 2.0
pts/acre; the maximum number of applications per year is 4, and
the minimum retreatment interval is 7 days. Do not exceed a
total maximum use rate of all sources of malathion of 8 lb
ai/acre/year. Do not apply within 1 day of harvest.
Horticultural
Topics:
Shift-trellises for Brambles: The
late Dr. Herb Stiles published two experiment station bulletins on
trellising systems for brambles (Va. Agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 95-2
and 99-1). Abstracts are available here for publications on Shift
trellis and Limited
Arm Rotation Shift Trellis systems. For the entire
publications, go the the Horticultural Topic sections.
Miscellaneous
Topics:
New name for NABGA: The North American
Bramble Growers has changed its name! It is now the North American
Raspberry and Blackberry Association, NARBA. There is new contact information as
well. The new e-mail is info@raspberryblackberry.com, and
the new phone is 919-542-4037.
New! The College of Agriculture and Life
Science at Virginia Tech has established a new on-line Master's in
Agriculture and Life Sciences. This curriculum
has been approved by the State Council of Higher Education and is
now accepting applications for Fall semester 2007. In this
program, you can earn a master's degree in agriculture while
working in your current job - emphasis is on education for
place-bound learners, and all courses are taken on-line. In
addition to a core area, there are courses offered in five areas
of concentration: (1) Biosecurity, Bioregulations and Public
Health, (2) Education, (3) Environmental Science, (4) Food Safety,
and (5) Plant Science and Pest Management. In addition to
course work, the student completes a
project decided upon in consultation with your major
advisor. Lists
of
courses within each concentration may be found in the web
site linked above. This program was recently the subject of
an interview by Jeff
Ishee with Virginia Public Televsion's Virginia Farming. For
more information, contact Doug Pfeiffer (dgpfeiff at vt.edu) or Sharon Proffitt (sproffit at vt.edu) (see 2008-2009 Extended Campus tuition
rates).
Virginia Berry Conference: The 6th
Annual Virginia Berry Production and Marketing Conference was held
on the Virginia State University campus on March 14, 2013.
See the program
linked archived here.