Almond Pest Management Alliance Advisory Team Meeting
Oct. 15, 1998 10 a.m. Olive Room, DANR Building, UC Davis
Minutes
Attending:
Wes Asai, Pomology Consultant
Larry Wilhoit, Calif. Dept. of Pesticide Regulation
Joe Connell, Farm Advisor, Butte County
Carolyn Pickel, UC Area IPM Advisor- Sacramento Valley
Nicole Darby, UC Davis graduate student
Frank Zalom, Director, Statewide IPM Project
Lonnie Hendricks, Farm Advisor, Merced County
Marcia Gibbs, Community Alliance for Family Farmers
Max Stephenson, Community Alliance for Family Farmers
Chris Heintz, Research Director, Almond Board of California
Mark Looker, Almond PMA Project Administrator
1) Introduction of Advisory Team members
Team members introduced themselves. Carolyn Pickel introduced one of her graduate students, Nicole Darby, who is interested in working on one of the area projects.
2) Review of minutes of Aug. 5 meeting
The minutes of the Aug. 5 meeting of the Advisory Team were reviewed. They were accepted as submitted.
3) Status of Regional Projects
a) Northern Project - - Carolyn Pickel and Joe Connell
Joe Connell presented a draft of the project for the Sacramento Valley site. The cooperator is Ben Bertagna of Bertagna Orchards, 3329 Hegan Lane in Chico. The site is located on Crouch Avenue in Chico.
The orchard is in its fourth growing season. It's planted in a hedgerow configuration with the tree spacing at 14 by 24 feet, containing 130 trees per acre. Varieties are Nonpareil at 50% and Aldrich, Sonora and Butte at 16.6% each. The planting is 49.5 acres with a division splitting the block into a 27-acre front piece and a 22.5-acre back piece.
The front 27-acres will represent the normal current grower practices. The back 22.5-acres will be managed using a "softer" approach when possible. For comparison, this portion of the orchard will be split again with half of it receiving an organophosphate dormant spray. The dormant-sprayed piece will be split again and half of it will receive a hullsplit spray.
Pre-existing satellite site in adjoining counties will be used to develop and demonstrate alternatives to current management approaches. These satellite sites will look at:
* Anthracnose management.
* NOW control using soft chemicals.
* NOW oviposition disruptants.
* Peach twig borer banding to determine emergence and need to treat.
* Mulches for vegetation management and use of post-emergence herbicides.
* Cover crop effects on water infiltration and on runoff of OP dormant sprays.
Joe and Carolyn are setting up a meeting with the cooperator for November so members of the PMA Advisory Team can meet with him. Mark Looker and Chris Heintz will attend the meeting and other team members are welcome to attend. The purpose of the meeting is to thank the cooperator for his participation and explain to him the importance of the project.
b) Central Project - - Walt Bentley and Lonnie Hendricks
Lonnie Hendricks outlined the project. The cooperator is Merlyn Garber, who has a uniform 120-acre orchard located near Modesto. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the possibility of managing arthropod pests in almonds with less disruptive pesticides. The orchard is 12-14 years old. Lonnie described the cooperator has a very good record keeper who has rejects levels of a tenth to one percent, which will present quite a challenge to the project. The site consists of three 40-acre blocks which are flood irrigated.
Nonpareil will be the main cultivator. Three treatment categories will be studies and these will be replicated four times. Each plot will be 10 acres in size. The design will be a randomized block.
The project focus is on arthropod pest management where pesticides of concern for worker safety and residues are most prevalent. Pests to be monitored are navel orangeworm, peach twig borer, ants, mites, San Jose scale, parasitoids of San Jose scale, European fruit lecanium and associated parasitoids and apple leafhopper.
A meeting with the cooperator is set for Oct. 27. Chris, Mark, Lonnie, Walt and Roger Duncan will meet with the cooperator to thank him for his participation and explain the importance of the project.
c) Southern Project - - Walt Bentley
The southern project is well underway. Walt and Mark, Chris, Mario Viveros and James Brazzle met recently with the cooperator, Thomas Vetsch of Pond in Kern County. He is very enthusiastic about the project and eager to cooperate.
The project orchard, in its fifth year, consists of two 40-acre blocks of Nonpareil, Fritz and Sonora and two 40-acre blocks of Butte, Mission and Padre. Each 40-acre block will be divided into two 20-acre blocks. One will have a normal conventional pest management program and the other will utilize the reduced risk program.
Pests to be monitored are navel orangeworm, peach twig borer, San Jose scale, mites and ants. Water stress, an important factor in mite management, will be monitored.
4) Future events
Discussion was held on the scheduling of dormant spray field days in each of the three project areas.
Tentatively scheduled were:
* Wednesday, Dec. 9, Butte County
* Friday, Dec. 11, Stanislaus County
* Dec. 8 or 10, Kern County
Marcia and Mark will work with farm advisors in coming up with an agenda for each field day. Mark noted there were PMA funds available for a lunch for growers attending the field days. There was discussion of having the field day begin with an introductory session about the PMA project, followed by lunch and then the field day work sessions. Each county advisor will develop the field day topics to best fit their unique area. Almond PMA will provide support for the mailing of meeting notification, preparing written materials for the field days and making other preparations as needed.
5) Next Meeting Date
The next meeting of the PMA Advisory Team is set for Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1999, at 10 a.m. at the DANR building on the UC Davis campus.