Take a fruit sample at harvest to assess the effectiveness of the current year's IPM program and to determine the needs of next year's program; be sure to keep a record for each block.
HOW TO SAMPLE
Before the sorting process begins, examine 500 to 1,000 randomly selected fruit from bins. Plan to sample 500 fruit for each variety unless unexpected damage is discovered, in which case increase the sample size up to a maximum of 1,000 fruit in order to thoroughly assess the damage.
Distinguish damage caused by:
- Peach twig borer : shallow feeding holes; over time these may appear as scabs; also bores into stem end of fruit, sometimes down to the pit.
- Obliquebanded leafroller : shallow channels in surface of green or ripe fruit that are accompanied by frass and webbing.
- Green fruitworm : feeding holes that result in large corky lesions and distorted growth as the fruit enlarge.
- Katydids : shallow-feeding injury that has healed over and become a corky lesion.
- Shot hole disease : on green fruit, lesions are light brown with dark purple margins; lesions on ripe fruit are corky, raised, and dark brown. Lesions are usually clustered on the upper sides of fruit.
- Ripe fruit rot (also called brown rot of fruit) : dark discoloration and grayish brown tufts of spore masses form on apricot fruit.
- European fruit lecanium : presence of sooty mold
Record the number of fruit infested by larvae and type of larvae present. If there are no larvae present, record whether damage is surface feeding only or if the larvae penetrated the fruit (example form— Note any indication of shot hole, ripe fruit rot, and sooty mold.