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  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Raspberry pests
  • Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:59:06 -0400

Marlin and Christine,
We in VA have a state entomologist, among whose duties is to identify agricultural pests.
There are keys that help entomologists identify insects at all life stages, including the larval (worm) stage.  (One of my summer jobs was identifying thousands of insects, one at a time, under a low power microscope.)

So for your pest(s), I would catch the offending 'worms', put them in an alcohol/water solution, in a small jar, and take to your county ag extension agent.  Our tax dollars are at work to enable these services.  You may also benefit from a visit, since these are causing economic damage.

A positive ID, by VA Tech extension, would help the rest of us in VA and neighboring areas. 

How you choose to manage the pests are up to you.  Once you have a certain ID on the pest, and hence its life cycle, control strategies are much more effective.

Hope you get it figured out,
Richard Moyer
SW VA

On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:
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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: New Raspberry pest-back again with a vengance
      (Marlin Burkholder)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 15:26:58 -0400
From: Marlin Burkholder <burkholders AT glenecofarm.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] New Raspberry pest-back again with a
        vengance
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <CC517042.668D%burkholders AT glenecofarm.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

This is Christine describing what I see.
We do not see pests or flies on our raspberries.  One of our pickers saw
some little moths.  I have seen a few bugs which look like squash bugs, but
have extra fuzz on their hind upper legs.
Over the years, we have had the cane bore make the 2 rings around the top
canes and we would break them off and not have damage to canes.  This year,
in addition to some of that, we have whole canes wilting and dying from the
bottom.  They will have a clean break near the bottom of the cane.  When one
goes to remove the cane,  It appears that a bore has laid eggs or cut one
ring around the stalk.
I tried to get the maggots to hatch out, but they molded on the sides of the
plastic jar after 2 weeks.  We are trying again.
Christine & Marlin


On 8/15/12 9:45 AM, "Shoemaker, William H" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu> wrote:

> IF it is Spotted Wing Drosophila it is pretty susceptible to insecticides. The
> problem is that you probably have every stage of the insect present; eggs,
> larvae, pupa and adult. You'll need to spray more than once to get them under
> control. Because it has a short life cycle, spraying twice 4-5 days apart may
> be enough, but I suspect another spray may be necessary. But that still
> doesn't address migration of new adults into your patch from adjacent areas.
> You may need to spray continuously to address this pest, perhaps putting on
> new sprays every 5-7 days.
>
>
>
> However, looking at this as an opportunity, if you don't spray you'll lose the
> crop and suffer despair about ever growing it again. Why not turn this into an
> opportunity to learn what works? If the insect is pretty easy to kill, why not
> try several choices, focusing on the least threatening insecticides first? You
> could try Pyganic and Entrust to see how well they control it. These are OMRI
> approved and have a history of some efficacy on a number of insects. You could
> alternate sprays of each, which would reduce the risk of resistance
> development. That's important with an insect like this with a short life
> cycle. You could throw Neem, or Azidarachtin, into the spray cycle to see if
> it works, though I'd be a little concerned about the smell. If you're not
> growing organically, Malathion is effective and shouldn't affect bees.
> Unfortunately I think Pyganic will affect the bees.
>
>
>
> Sorry to hear you're dealing with this again. I'm afraid we all will be before
> long.
>
>
>
> Bill
>
> William H. Shoemaker,
>
> Northern Illinois Viticulturist - IGGVA
>
> Illinois Grape Growers and Vinters Association
>
> wshoemak AT illinois.edu
>
>
> From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of Marlin & Christine
> Burkholder [burkholders AT glenecofarm.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:45 PM
> To: 'Market Farming'
> Subject: [Market-farming] New Raspberry pest-back again with a vengance
>
>
> The new no see-um fruit fly which first made an appearance on our Virginia
> farm last summer is back again, with a vengeance!  I had considered spraying
> an insecticide as the crop started into bloom in July but backed off when I
> saw the number and variety of bees and other pollinators on the plants.  I
> opted instead to inspect the plants with a magnifying glass in search of the
> offending flies to see if I could make a positive identification before
> bringing in the bombs.  I never could see anything that looked like the
> spotted wing drosophila which I have been suspecting is the culprit.
>
> Now the first flush is ripening and at least 90% of the ripe fruit is mushy
> soft, crawling with maggots, and unfit to harvest.  If there is no way of
> rescuing the remaining unripe fruit there will be no reason to attempt
> harvesting any more of the crop.  It looks like we can consider the crop a
> 100% failure.  I am considering bombing them immediately and waiting a week or
> more to begin harvesting.  Anything ripe now or going to ripen within the next
> week or two would be given a goodbye kiss.  Does anyone think this has a
> chance of working?  Would insecticide hitting the infested berries still
> hanging on the vines kill the maggots and help reduce the pest load next year?
> Would I also need to soak the ground under the plants to get maggots on the
> fallen berries?  When are the berries being infested?  At bloom or
> preripening?
>
> The only professional beekeeper still operating in our county happens to be a
> next door neighbor.  He is struggling with all the new issues confronting
> beekeeping, including ?colony collapse disorder? believed to be caused by
> environmental poisoning.  I do not wish for my activities to contribute to his
> demise!
>
> Fall red raspberries have in the past been one of our cornerstone income
> generating crops.  Should I attempt a rescue maneuver now or should I write it
> off this year and plan to go after it early next season?
>
> This thing is hurting us far more than the BMSB invasion that has had everyone
> stewing for the past two years!
>
> Marlin Burkholder
>
>
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End of Market-farming Digest, Vol 115, Issue 19
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