May 20, 1999

Bob Elliott, Contract Manager

Department of Pesticide Regulation

830 K Street Mall

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Contract #97-0281

Dear Bob:

In accordance with the terms outlined in the grant awarded to the Almond Pest Management Alliance (PMA,) I have enclosed the third quarterly status report on the Alliance’s activities for the period of January 1 through April 30, 1998.

All three regional sites are being monitored weekly by field scouts for insect pests, beneficial insects and diseases. These reports are posted to the almond PMA web site located at www.lookercomm.com/almondpma/almondpma.htm. The next series of field days are set for May 12 in Kern county, May 27 in Merced county and June 10 in Butte county. A newsletter updating growers on the project is set to be produced and distributed in the latter part of May.

The next meeting of the PMA Advisory Team is set for June 16, 1999, at 10 a.m. at the DANR building on the UC Davis campus. We look forward to seeing you there and updating you further on our progress.

As always, if you require further information regarding the status of this project, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sincerely,

Mark Looker

Almond PMA Project Administrator

Enclosure: Quarterly Report

Cc: Almond PMA partners

Almond Pest Management Alliance

Quarterly Report May 7, 1999

The Almond Pest Management Alliance (PMA) project in January through April 1999 focused on winter monitoring by field scouts for insect pests, beneficial insects and diseases.

Northern Project

The Almond PMA Project in the Sacramento Valley is running well. This is

our progress as of April 16, 1999 as reported by field scout Nicole Darby.

PTB: None found in traps as of yet. Advisors believe the cold weather may

be delaying flight, however, we expect first moth soon.

PTB Larvae Monitoring: Six trees in each block, 24 total, were banded with

corrugated cardboard. We are to take down the cardboard at the end of the

generation. Due to the weather, Carolyn Pickel has suggested we wait

another week before taking them down. She suggested that even with the

warmer weather it would be better to wait another week. New cardboard will

be banded around the tree for the next generation.

SJS: First SJS found on 4/16/99. Most were found in the 12.5 acres of

'soft approach' and in the 5 acre OP dormant spray blocks.

SJS Parasite: Two parasites were found on traps. One in the grower

standard and one in the 5 acre OP dormant spray.

Shoot Strikes: I began monitoring shoots on 3/31/99 and so far have found

no damage. Joe Connell confirmed that there are no apparent shoot strikes

as of 4/16/99 in any of the blocks.

Misc. Monitoring: While monitoring for pests listed above, diseases such

as Shot Hole and Scab are noted. Whereas there are no monitoring protocols

for these diseases their presence is noted and given directly to the grower

and to Joe Connell. So far, there is some clustering of shot-hole but the

trees own defenses appear to be keeping it in check, Joe Connell thought

this minor outbreak is due to the last rains. We spotted one tree with

scab. Overall, a very healthly, young orchard.

NOW: We have yet to place traps for NOW. Traps for NOW will be in placed

when the corrugated cardboard is checked.

Central Project

This report was submitted by Stanislaus County Farm Advisor Roger Duncan.

The Stanislaus County PMA site is a research trial as well as a demonstration. Three treatments are fully replicated three times within the 120 acre orchard. The treatments are:

Grower’s practice: pyrethroid, oil, & copper dormant; May spray with an OP; Omite if needed for mites; Lorsban for ants.

Intermediate program: Success, oil, & copper dormant; May spray with Success; Agri-Mek or Vendex if needed for mites, Clinch bait for ants.

Soft program: Oil only dormant + 2 Bt sprays at bloom/post-bloom; May sprays with 2 Bt sprays; oil or potassium nitrate for mites if needed; Clinch bait for ants.

Dormant sprays were applied January 21, 1999. Costs per acre for each treatment is as follows:

Grower’s Standard

Asana XL @ 8 oz $9.52

Kocide DF @ 8 lb $18.22

Gavicide Super 90 @ 6 gal $16.43

Total $44.17

Intermediate

Success @ 6.4 oz $38.25

Kocide DF @ 8 lb $18.22

Gavicide Super 90 @ 5 gal $13.69

Total $70.16

Soft

Gavicide Super 90 @ 6 gal $16.43

Dipel DF @ 1.5 lb $16.05

Dipel DF @ 1.5 lb $16.05

Total $48.53

Mummies were removed in January throughout the orchard. Mummy counts were recorded on February 12 & 15, 1999 and averaged 0.4 per tree.

The orchard is monitored twice weekly by Roger Duncan’s technician. In each treatment replication we have two PTB traps, two S.J. Scale traps, four S.J. scale crawler sticky tape traps, and two NOW egg traps for a total of 90 traps. In addition, mites and ants are monitored periodically through the season.

PTB traps were hung March 29. Biofix for PTB was April 17. The first Bt May spray was applied May 13. The OP May spray will be applied ca. May 19. The second Bt May spray will be applied ca. May 21.

To date, there is a trend towards fewer PTB, fewer San Jose Scale, and fewer scale parasites in the dormant pyrethroid treatment. There does not appear to be any difference between the intermediate and soft programs. Cumulative trap catches for PTB, SJ. Scale males (pheromone traps), Prospatella, and Aphytis in the three treatments are as follows:

Southern Project

April 14,1999

By Peggy Schrader, Field Scout

Pest monitoring is in full swing. Biofix for San Jose Scale was set at

3/22/99. We are now in the process of putting out crawler tape for SJS.

Biofix for Peach Twig bore was 4/11/99. We plan to go out this month and

count strikes.

Navel Orange worm traps are in place and we have been monitoring for

presence/absence of mites. We have a planned release of predator mites

later this month.

We have seen no evidence of disease problems at this time.

The barley cover is about 24 inches high and will be mowed at the end of

the month before the plants have a chance to set seed heads. Flowers in the

planted middles are becoming evident.

Ken Shackel is coming down next week to get us going on procedure for stem

water potential using a pressure bomb. We will them be on a weekly schedule

for monitoring plant water status.

That concludes this quarterly report. Any questions or concerns about this project can be directed to the Almond PMA Project Administrator. Mark can be reached via voice mail at (209) 549-8262 ext. 108 or email at mllooker@ainet.com. Additionally, the PMA Web site is linked from the Almond Board Web site www.almondsarein.com or can be reached directly at www.lookercomm.com/almondpma/almondpma.htm.