In the past year a new, potentially devastating pest has emerged in Mississippi — the spotted wing drosophila (SWD). SWD is a fruit fly, but has a serrated ovipositor making it possible to slice through the skin of fruit in order to feed or deposit eggs. This pest has not been in the United States a long time, per-haps 7 or 8 years, but in that time it has spread across the country. It is here to stay. But, there is still a lot we do not know. In the last couple of issues we have provided information on how to control this pest. That continues with this issue. On January 17, 2013 a workshop was held in Hattiesburg to educate growers on the ways to monitor, identify, and control SWD. I count-ed 91 attendees—a sign that many are taking this problem seriously. On page two of this issue, we are again running the products that can be used to con-trol SWD. Also included in this issue are links to all of the presentations giv-en during the workshop. Other articles focus on the bee workshop held in December and the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug — another pest we believe is coming, sooner or later.

Dawn of a New Era

Editor and Author:

Eric T. Stafne

Contributors:

John Adamcyzk

Donna Marshall

Blair Sampson

Barbara Smith

Stephen Stringer

Chris Werle

Inside this issue:

Dawn of a New Era

1

Chill Hours Re-port

1

Spray options for control of SWD

2

Emerging Pest WS Agenda

3

Insights into SWD from MI and NC

6-7

Brown Marmorat-ed Stinkbug

8-10

Micronutrient Disorders in BB

11

Pest Workshop presentations

4

Bee Pollination WS Recap

5

Chill Hour Report

Eric T. Stafne, Fruit Extension Specialist, MSU-ES

The number of chill hours reported have been running ahead of the total last year. The numbers are as follow:

Verona = 851 hr as of Jan 23

Crystal Springs = 634 as of Jan 23

Wayne Co. = 850 as of Jan 22

George Co. = 397 as of Jan 18

Jones Co. = 786 as of Jan 23

MISSISSIPPI STATE

UNIVERSITY

Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

January-March 2013 Volume 2, Issue 1

Table 1. Insecticides that may help manage populations of Spotted-Wing Drosophila (SWD) and other Drosophila species on Mississippi berries. Insecticide registrations are constantly being revised, so please be sure to apply only those recommended products legal for your State and crop by checking the label.

1Mention of a trademark, warranty, proprietary product or vendor does not constitute a guarantee by the USDA or MSU and does not imply approval or recommendation of the product to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. 2Re-entry interval (REI) is the time after a pesticide is sprayed when personnel can safely re-enter the field. 3Pre-harvest interval (PHI) is the time that must elapse after spraying before harvesting can resume. PHI may vary for a prod-uct depending on the crop that it is sprayed on.

Spotted Wing Drosophila: A New Invasive Pest Blair Sampson, Eric T. Stafne, John Adamczyk, Stephen Stringer, and Donna Marshall

Page 2 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

Insecticide Product1 (trade name)

Chemical Name (active ingredi-ent)

IRAC class

Product applied per acre

Re-entry Inter-val2

Pre-harvest Interval3

Labeled for use on?

Blueber-ry

Blackber-ry

Strawber-ry

Rasp-berry

Comments

Brigade WSB Bifenthrin 3A 16 oz 12 hrs 0 d yes yes yes yes

Mustang Max Z-Cypermethrin 3A 4 oz 12 hrs 1 d yes yes no yes No more 6 applications per season

Mustang 1.5EC

Z-Cypermethrin 3A 4.3 oz 12 hrs 1 d yes yes no yes

Danitol 2.4EC

Fenpropathrin 3A 16 oz 24 hrs 3 d yes yes yes yes

Pyganic 1.4EC

Pyrethrins (organic)

3A 16 – 64 oz

12 hrs 0 d yes yes yes yes

Malathion 57EC

Malathion 1B 1.8—3 pints

12 hrs 1 - 3 d yes yes yes yes 1d PHI for blueberries

Imidan 70W Phosmet 1B 1.3 lbs 24 hrs 3 - 7 d yes yes no yes An excellent first application

Delegate WG

Spinetoram 5 6 oz 4 hrs 1 – 7 d yes yes no yes 3d PHI for blueberries

SpinTor 2SC Spinosad 5 6 oz 4 hrs 1 – 7 d yes yes yes yes 3d PHI for blueberries

Entrust SC Spinosad (organic)

5 2 oz 4 hrs 1 – 7 d yes yes yes yes 3d PHI for blueberries

1:00-1:30 PM Dr. David Ingram MSU Plant Pathologist Exobasidium and Mummy berry occurrence and control in Blueberries. 1:30-2:00 PM Dr. Barbara Smith USDA Plant Pathologist Xylella occurrence and control in Blueberries. 2:00-2:30 PM Dr. Blake Layton MSU Entomologist SWD observations and control in homeowner fruit crops. 2:30-3:00 PM Dr. Blair Sampson USDA Entomologist Identification, trapping, and monitoring of the Spotted Wing Drosophila in Mississippi. 3:00-3:15 PM Break 3:15-3:45 PM Sam Erwin Spray Equipment Expert and Dealer, Superb Horticulture, Plymouth, Indiana Equipment and procedures for controlling the Spotted Wing Drosophila in Blueberries. 3:45-4:30 PM Dr. Oscar Liburd Univ. of Florida Entomologist Spotted Wing Drosophila life cycle, infestation and control methods in Blueberries. 4:30-5:00 PM Discussion and Equipment demonstration

Agenda for the 2013 Emerging Pest Workshop Eric T. Stafne—Fruit Extension Specialist, MSU-ES

Page 3 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

Just click the link below to get to the entire presentation online: msfruitextension.wordpress.com

Links to Emerging Workshop Presentations Eric T. Stafne, Fruit Extension Specialist, MSU-ES

Page 4 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

On Wednesday, December 6th, Gabe Diaz-Saavedra of Koppert Biological Services visited with regional growers and representatives of MSU and USDA at the Giles farm in Wayne County. After a brief meet and greet over lunch, Gabe explained to us the benefits of using native bumblebees for pollination of the blueberry crop as op-posed to the more common practice of using honeybees. While natural bumblebee populations can be fostered through a variety of land-use practices, Koppert has been rearing colonies for sale to producers of a wide varie-ty of crops for over 30 years. Many important contrasts can be drawn between honeybees and bumblebees. While honeybees forage mostly during mid-day, collecting primarily nectar for conversion to honey, bumblebees forage in morning and evening hours, collecting primarily pollen. This focus on pollen makes bumblebees more adapted to fruit crop pollina-tion. The use of a unique pollination behavior called sonicating, or “buzz-pollination”, dislodges far more pollen from the flower to be picked up by the bumblebee body. Bumblebees will also work hard under adverse weath-er conditions including wind and rain, and temperatures ranging from 40-110° F. Honeybees are notorious for keeping sheltered on days that aren’t warm and sunny, and being nectar seekers, are also less attracted to fruit crops like blueberry, blackberry and cucurbits. Honeybees may even leave a blueberry field for nectar-rich wild plants like gall berries or ty ty. Another distinction, and perhaps most important, are the flight patterns that these insects use while working a crop. While honeybees tend to fly in straight paths down crop rows, bumble-bees exhibit a more random pattern of floral visitation, flying in a circular pattern that will allow for a greater incidence of the cross-pollination between rows that is essential to optimal fruit production. This greater polli-nation efficiency leads to a roughly equivalent comparison of one bumble hive to one honeybee hive, despite the overwhelming advantage in numbers within a hive of honeybees. Many fruit producers are now buying bumblebee hives to supplement pollination from honeybees and wild bees, while some are coming to depend solely on bumblebees. Depending on the availability of honeybees in each farmer’s local area, costs for hive rental can be highly variable. Koppert’s hives cost approximately $60 per hive before shipping, and will provide 8-12 weeks of highly efficient pollination, depending on availability of pollen loads. Bumblebees coexist perfectly well in the same field as honeybees, and if nothing else can provide valuable pollination insurance in case of less-than-ideal weather conditions. For more information, contact Gabe Diaz-Saavedra at (941) 350-7291, or gdiaz@koppertonline.com.

Bee Pollination Workshop Recap Chris Werle and Blair Sampson, USDA-ARS

Page 5 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

Fig. 1. Gabe Diaz-Saavedra, demon-strating ease of use of Koppert's "quad" of bumblebee colonies.

In December I had a conference call with Dr. Hannah Burrack (North Carolina State University), Dr. Rufus Isaacs (Michigan State University), and Dr. Blair Sampson (USDA-ARS, Poplarville, MS). Seeing as our knowledge of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) here in Mississippi is limited, I wanted to glean as much information from these experts as possible. Dr. Burrack is an Assistant Professor of Entomology and Extension Specialist. Her specialty is Applied Insect Ecology and Pest Management in Field and Hor-ticultural Crops. She has an excellent blog with great information on SWD and other pests. You can access it here: http://ncsmallfruitsipm.blogspot.com/

Dr. Isaacs is a Professor of Entomology and his specialty is insect ecology and behavior to develop insect management practices for sustainable crop production, with a focus in berry crop systems including grape and blueberry. Michigan State maintains a blueberry website that can be access here: http://blueberries.msu.edu/. Recommendations for control from MSU can be found here: http://www.ipm.msu.edu/invasive_species/spotted_wing_drosophila/crop_recommendations

And all of you know Dr. Sampson — so what follows are some tidbits about SWD that I was able to write down from our conversation.

-continued next page-

Insights into SWD from North Carolina and Michigan Eric T. Stafne, Fruit Extension Specialist MSU-ES

Page 6 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

The pest cannot be eliminated, just reduced (managed)

Reducing populations may reduce egg laying

A strong management program will help in blueberries

SWD infestation and flight activity decrease when temperatures are very hot, 90+F

A good spray program can hold the pest in check, but environmental factors such as rainfall can hin-der efficacy

SWD populations increase later in the growing season

Fruit should be kept cool after harvest, as SWD eggs/larvae do not develop at cold temperatures

The fruit needs to be sprayed at the beginning of the susceptible phase (could be as early as green fruit stage)

Blueberry growers in NC seeing Southern Highbush escape SWD because of their earliness and Rabbiteyes account for the main losses

Spray technology options include tower sprayers, helicopter, airplane, cannon sprayers

Spraying bordering wooded land may be an helpful management strategy

Conventional protection products include Mustang Max, Malathion, Delegate, etc.

Broad spectrum products may increase likelihood of secondary pests, e.g. spider mites

IMPORTANT— check with marketer before spraying anything to find out which products are ac-ceptable and unacceptable

Some products have restrictions that may limit their use for You-Pick operations

SWD may not be as devastating in You-Pick because bad berries can be picked around or bad ber-ries can be removed prior to opening

In North Carolina, infestation rates are much higher in blackberries than blueberries — 100% vs 10-15%

In NC, blackberries are being treated 2 times per week, rotating 3 materials, spraying on ripening fruit

Infestations are found in high tunnels, but infestation rates may be lower

Control of SWD in high tunnels may be better because sprays last longer

Insights into SWD from NC and MI, cont. Eric T. Stafne

Page 7 Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

Dr. John Adamczyk, Dr. Blair Sampson, and Chris Werle, USDA-ARS Thad Cochran Southern Horti-cultural Laboratory Poplarville, MS You have probably seen the pictures, heard the stories of homeowners waking up to hundreds overwinter-ing in their homes, and now fear the worse. Do we have another invasive pest for our blueberries? We have enough to worry about with the fly (i.e. Spotted-Wing Drosophila) and new diseases (i.e. Exobasidi-um), but here comes another one! One of the first things you have probably noticed is the title (a question rather than a stated fact). Please let me clarify with a series of anticipated questions and answers. Q) Will Brown Marmorated Sting Bugs (BMSB) cause economic damage to blueberries? A) Yes, economic damage has been reported for small fruits along the Mid-Atlantic states, including blue-berries. However, like the vast majority of stink bugs, this pest targets seeds, so fruit in mid-to-late devel-opment appears to be the most vulnerable. Q) Will BMSB damage blueberries in Mississippi? A) We have no reason to believe that they won't. We assume they will. Q) Why is it such a serious pest? A) There are a number of reasons. Just to name a few, the pest feeds on hundreds of hosts, is difficult to control with common synthetic insecticides, and populations can be incredible high at times. Contact in-secticides control the pest, but migrating populations can quickly re-infest the crop. Often, invasive and/or exotic insect pests arrive without their native natural enemies to keep the population in check, resulting in massive numbers. The recent arrive of kudzu bugs into the Southeast is a good example of massive popula-tions causing significant damage to soybean, with no natural defenses. In addition, the pest likes to overwin-ter in homes in large numbers and can be a nuisance. Q) How do farmers control this pest in other regions of the country? A) Early detection and proper timing of insecticides are the most common tactics, although this approach has been difficult: " At the present time, growers are applying pesticides belonging to one or two chemical classes, namely the pyrethroids and carbamates, in an attempt to save their crops. Chemical control is not considered de-sirable over the long-term, due to expected crop resistance to these chemicals and disruptions to integrat-ed pest management (IPM) programs, but will play an immediate role in salvaging crop production and a limited, ongoing role in more sustainable management programs. Accordingly, researchers will seek to de-fine an appropriate short-term chemical control strategy for the next season as researchers carry out the medium- and long-term research needed to develop a more sustainable approach." Contributing Loca-tions: USDA,ARS-Kearneysville; PSU; Rutgers; Virginia Tech; and UMD. Q) Has BMSB been reported in Mississippi? A) Yes, it has been reported, but not damaging any plants or crops in our area. It appears that many mid-southern states have reported the pest, but no damage to crops. Heavy damage to various crops has been confined to the Mid-Atlantic states (i.e. eastern PA, NJ, VA, ML, NC).

-continued on next page-

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug: Pest of Mississippi Blueberries?

Page 8 Volume 2, Issue 1

Q) Will BMSB become a serious pest of small fruits, including blueberries and muscadines in Mississippi? A) This is difficult to predict because some invasive species are more adapted to certain regions of the

country compared with others. The BMSB may simply have not had enough time to migrate in large numbers to our state to become established. It is likely just a matter of time.

Q) What can be done by our growers?

A) Report the pest, if it is seen anywhere. Your county agent is a good place to start, or you can call any-one at the Mississippi Department of Agriculture & Commerce (MDAC, http://www.mdac.state.ms.us/departments/bpi/index.html). We need to be ready. This stink bug does look similar to other native brown stink bugs that may be commonly observed damaging small fruits and vegetables in Mississippi. However, the BMSB is often observed in very high numbers and can be distinguished from others by looking for lighter bands on the antennae and darker bands on the membranous, overlapping part at the rear of the front pair of wings when at rest. The nymphs (i.e. immature wingless forms) are more difficult to identify from other common brown stink bugs, but very small nymphs will have deep red eyes and a yellowish-red abdomen. When nymphs get bigger, they still do not look like the adult be-low, and the abdomen will turn off-white with red spots.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, cont.

Page 9 Volume 2, Issue 1

Exobasidium Leaf and Fruit Spot, cont.

Page 10 Volume 2, Issue 1

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, cont. Q) Where can I obtain information about the BMSB? A) Information is available from numerous sources. However, when browsing the internet, please verify the

source of the content. University Extension sites are excellent. Examples: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brown-marmorated-stink-bug http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/ms.shtml http://njaes.rutgers.edu/stinkbug/identify.asp http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/jul09/bug0709.htm http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2013/130107.htm http://www.stopbmsb.org/stink-bug-basics/ http://www.stopbmsb.org/stink-bug-bulletin/scientists-draw-maps-to-stop-stink-bug-pirates/ Q) What are researchers/entomologists doing to help control this pest? A) Figuratively, this pest is public enemy number 1 or 2. Many federal research agencies (e.g. USDA, Agricul-tural Research Service) and state agencies (e.g. MDAC, university departments of Entomology) are actively try-ing to find short- and long-term solutions. Short-term solutions include, but are not limited to, developing chemical lures and traps to monitor and control the pest in certain situations, novel environmentally friendly chemical approaches, and proper timing of these control strategies. In addition, basic biological information still needs to be fully researched to find points of weakness that may be further exploited. Long-term solutions include classical biological control (i.e. bringing natural enemies from indigenous areas and releasing into the US) and gene-targeted approaches (see http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2013/130107.htm).

Coastal Research and Extension Center

South Mississippi Research and Extension Center 810 Hwy 26 West

Poplarville, MS 39470

Phone: 601-403-8939 E-mail: estafne@ext.msstate.edu

The Mississippi Vaccinium Journal is a quarterly, digital publication of Mississippi State University Extension Service. Subscriptions may be obtained by sending an email address to estafne@ext.msstate.edu. All articles and images are copyright of Mississippi State University Exten-sion Service.

Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

Eric T. Stafne, Fruit Extension Specialist MSU-ES

Recently I was invited to give a talk at the SE Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference held in Savannah, GA. Of course I love Savannah, so I said yes. The topic was “Micronutrient Disorders in Blueberries”. As is so often the case when dealing with plants in a complex environment, the answers are not always simple. Interactions between elements can cause imbalances, as can a multitude of other factors. I put the presentation in PDF format online so you can take a look at what I presented. Click the link below.

http://msfruitextension.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/micronutrient-disorders-in-blueberries/

Micronutrient Disorders In Blueberries

Mississippi Vaccinium Journal

Archived Newsletters at http://msucares.com/newsletters/

vaccinium/index.html

Mention of a trademark, warranty, proprietary product or

vendor does not constitute a guarantee by the USDA or MSU and does not imply approval or recommendation of the product to the exclusion of others that

may be suitable.