In today’s Almond Matters, brought to you by Valent, dormant sprays are an integral part of keeping pest problems at bay in orchards. Managing pests such as peach twig borer and San Jose scale is essential for maintaining nut quality and tree health. Field Development Manager for Valent USA, Pat Clay said monitoring will be critical for determining what type of treatment will be necessary.
“This time of year, dormant sprays are highly effective for managing peach twig borer. Asana XL, or esfenvalerate, is a very effective product that’s available and can also be incorporated with oil if you have San Jose scale problems,” Clay noted. “If the dormant period gets by you there is still opportunity during the bloom in catching those first emerging insects that come out during bloom. But really during bloom, broad-spectrum insecticide sprays are not recommended due to potential issues with pollinators.”
Peach twig borer not only presents a threat on its own but can also exacerbate issues with navel orangeworm. Attacking the pest now with dormant applications can help prevent future infestations later in the season when temperatures begin to warm up. As Clay noted, oils can be effective in managing scale, however, populations can become too large for adequate management using oils. An application of an insect growth regulator can help manage populations and limit the number of insects emerging in the spring. As with any material application, growers will want to time their treatments to enable the most efficacy as possible.
“Obviously with rain in the forecast you want to hold off until you can have a period of six to eight or 12 hours of rain-free period after the application to get the best results out of them,” Clay explained. “But really until bloom and leaf out you can have highly effective dormant sprays.”
Listen to the report below.