Affects of heat

Seeing a  lot of western blight on hazelnuts due to
lack of rain, lack of irrigation and burn on the
 south side of tree already.  - Witches broom in
 the tops of the trees.

Table bets and chard - leaf miners.  The transparent
areas on top of the leaf.  There will be a little miner
 in between the leaf layers.

Tomatoes and peppers - early blight - black spots
on lower leaves.

Spinach - bolting already.  Got to hot.

Finding small leaf rollers or inch worms on
blueberry fruit.

Enjoy the summer

Cherries - nearly done.
Strawberries - nearly done.

Rasp[berries - smaller crop this year.
Blueberries - big crop and now ready on
early varieties.
Blackberries - looks like a huge crop.  Remember that
 the wild blackberry is needed for bumble bees, honey
 bees. mason bees, other pollinating insects and predators.

Tansey ragwort - our nemesis.  Please a few growing
 (not going to seed) in a corner of the lot or pasture. 
The biological insects did such a good job, the tansey
population crashed, and so did the bio insects.  We need
to remember - balance. A few tansey ragwort plants
for the bio.  Just like planting or keeping the pollen
flowers and blackberries, if everyone does a small
 bit, we can help save the bees and pollinators, and
 tansey bio insects.

Gardens and veggies

Kale and broccoli are looking nice.

Kale -= is leafing out nicely.

Tomatoes - starting to size and flower.
Some zucci - doing OK.

Cucumbers - very slow.
Peppers - slow, too cold in the AM's.
Place water jugs next to them to keep them warmer.

Only one report of spotted wing drosophila
in strawberries.

Cherry fruit fly - low numbers so far.

Apples - pretty scabby.  Pears - still pretty clean.

Red currants - still picking and nice color.
Red and golden raspberries - nice crop.

Weeds - going crazy.

Now what

Strawberries - ripening nicely and little damage form
the rain except for Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Early blueberries - ripening, seem to be bigger this year. 
Keep a weary eye out for a disease called mummyberry
 where the berries become gray/white, very hard.  Try
 to pick and destroy these berries.

Thin apples - ASAP.

Apple and pear scab - really bad.

Cole crops - doing really well.
Warm season plants - kind of growing but very slow.

Spotted wing drosophila - slow to emerge, even tho
traps showed it in March/April.  Keep traps filled
with fresh apple cider vinegar.

Cherry fruit fly - also slow emergence.  Put up yellow
sticky board to monitor flies.

Weeds and lawns - going crazy.

Moss really bad this year.  For growing areas,
just add ag lime.

Rain and wet

Weekly crop report

Rain today - protect tree fruits from fungus problems.
Cherries - being picked.
Strawberries - good season.
Red currants - excellent crop.
Early blueberries - nice crop.
Grapes - looks like a big crop.

Apples - scab and cedar rust problems.

High population of leaf hoppers this year.

Meeting

Disease Alert Meeting

Black Leg & Leaf Spots in Brassica, Mustard & Radish Crops

June 18th – starting at 1:30 PM

Linn County Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte RD, Albany

Program followed by Q&A session on recent disease epidemics in Brassiceae

•           important for growers of Brassica, Raphanus, Sinapis seed and vegetable crops

•           important for producers who use brassicas as forage and cover crops  

Program speakers:

Lindsey du Toit – Vegetable Seed Pathologist, Washington State University

Carol Mallory-Smith – Professor of Weed Science, Oregon State University

Cindy Ocamb – Plant Pathologist, Oregon State University Extension

Maryna Serdani – Plant Pathologist, Oregon State University Plant Clinic

Pear saw fly

Are those really slugs on the leaves? No. Caterpillars? 

No. Pear sawflies, also known as pear slugs or cherry 

sawflies, are out and feeding in the North Willamette Valley. 

The are the larvae of small wasps. They have been spotted on 

cherry but have other common hosts including pears and plums. 

Look for them on the lower leaves of host plants. I've put together

 a new pear sawfly page with more information, links, and images. 

Robin

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/pear_sawfly.html

What's up?

Strawberry season in  full swing.  great berries,
great weather.
Watch out and trap for spotted wing drosophila with
vinegar placed in a plastic drink containers with 3/8
holes in the top and lid.

Warm season plant really took off this week.

Raspberries - seem to e affected by the winter freeze. 
Blueberries - look like a big crop with some winter
freeze on some plants.

Blackberries - look loaded so far.

Thin the apples ASAP.  Almost too late for Gravenstein
apples; still time for delicious, Fugi and late apples.
thin off apples with damage, with scab or cedar
apple rust damage.

Fruit trees have a huge amount of summer growth
on the inside of the trees.  Remove the inside growth
 by cutting or pulling - just pulling the green suckers.

Some plums, some pears, some apples on some vareities.

Local research on mummyberry

Mummyberry Research

Today was a review of mummyberry research
 being done in Lane County.  Mummyberry is a
devastating disease that is affecting a lot of the
blueberry farms in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

The research is being done thru (NCAP), Northwest
Center for Alternative to Pesticides;  OSU Plant
 Path - J. Pscheidt and J. Florence;  local NRCS office -
 Natural Resource Conservation Services- Linn and
 Lane Counties;  USDA Farm Service Agency -
Linn and Lane;   on Ken Bergs farm in Alvadore. 
He is using black plastic and saw dust to bury the
 mummified berries so they don't or can't sporulate
and move the spores to the flowers.  He went from
87% loss to 10% loss.

Weeks weather from Rufus

Monday June 2

 This next week will continue to define the perfection of weather 

in the beautiful PNW. Scattered morning clouds, maybe; lots of 

sun in the afternoons; temperatures in the 70s; cool nights.

 High pressure, centered to our west, will hold the region mild. 

Strawberry harvest will continue with perfection. That said, there 

may be a few thunderstorms pop-up in the SE OR area, on into

 portions of ID, MT, WY early this week.

 A few days ago, models toyed with a downturn in the pattern

 (think showers, cooler) by the coming weekend. The low pressure 

trough modeled the week of Jun 9-13 will bring June showers to 

most west side locations esp Wed / Thu, and set-off some powerful 

thunderstorms over the eastern basins. Heavy downpours possible

in ID, MT, WY late-week.

 Week of June 16 looks to be a repeat of our current wx perfection.

  

Rufus at the WxCafe®