Here's my spray note for today:
Half rate of Entrust with full curculio rate of Venerate for PC/EAS clay app on apples on June 8. South block first, with remainder used higher up in North block. (Three-year old spinosad now used up.)This is not a great year to pull off comparison trials due to a limited crop. Plums, pie cherries, and pears got first Surround two weeks ago in normal kaolin fashion (multiple layers). That early fruit set got a renewal coat of clay again last week once I observed PC scars on green plumlets. That tank mix included full rate Entrust with it's purported 50% activity against curculio, and I applied it to the nearest apples as well (lower down in North block). This week's mix was applied to all other bearing apples, now at quarter-inch to half-inch fruitlet size, depending on variety. I couldn't justify ordering a fresh bottle of spinosad at $400 a pop given reduced harvest expectations . . . and thus my intention to compare results from one apple block covered with Surround/Entrust to the other covered with Surround/Venerate went out the window. So goes the pace of grower research!
The Venerate label lists curculio for treatment on tree fruits. The rate given is 2 quarts per acre; cost would be $42 per acre treatment based on jug price from Seven Springs Farm (this without shipping). What I don't know is to what extent you get knockback, as in
dead and gone curculio. Nor do I know to what extent if any Venerate affects apple sawfly (thus the half rate Entrust as part of this mix). The clay provides an overlay for the biological toxins from UV degradation; the coating is relatively light with the spray equally directed at limb structure as well as better-set branches. Curculio crawls, given it druthers, especially when it's cooler. One of my goals is reduce use of the refined kaolin clay, due to expense as well as that lasting whiteness which carries over to harvest time. Keep in mind that a modest coating of clay irritates the insect, thus weakening it for a deadlier knockout punch. Tank mixing materials with different activity makes good sense when you take into account the targeted insect's patterns. Not every bearing tree got this final round of minimal coverage so maybe I will observe something worth reporting. The value of Venerate lies in costing less than half what we currently pay for Entrust (based on acreage rates) as well as the efficacy suggested by the Venerate label even listing plum curculio as a target insect. I hope some others are trialing this new biological as well.
Lost Nation OrchardZone 4b in New Hampshire
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2018 03:03PM by Michael Phillips.