Joanne Whalen, Extension IPM Specialist; jwhalen@udel.edu
Although we are not able to scout orchards in Delaware, a consultant working with fruit growers in Delaware detected the first damage in peaches and nectarines this week. It appears that the damage is confined to edges near woods; however, they can quickly move into orchards so early detection is important. We do have BLT traps at 3 orchard locations but so far none have been detected in traps. We did find a significant increase in black light trap catches at our Newark farm this past week – but populations were very high in crops on the Newark farm in 2010. It is being shown in other fruit areas that orchard scouting is critical and you should not rely on traps alone for detection. In states where numbers were high last season (WV, Western MD and VA and NJ), they are able to find populations and damage in orchards well before detection in traps this season. Please see the attached “Grower Alert” concerning brown marmorated stink bug that was sent last week by the U.S. Apple Association to US Apple members in the Mid Atlantic region.