NC Small Fruit & Specialty Crop IPM

I have been attending the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America's annual meeting this week and head back to Raleigh tomorrow morning. I presented some of ourstrawberry tunnel/spider mite biological control research在专门针对由学生事务委员会组织的非侵入节肢动物的研讨会上，由Ana Cabrera。Ana studies mite and tobacco budworm molecular biology under the direction ofMike Roe在我们的部门。

My friend Alex Wild has an excellent邮政detailing Michigan State University entomologist Anthony Cognato's appearance on Fox News in defense of stimulus funds for entomological endeavors. I urge you to read the post and watch the clip. This antipathy is part of a larger, disturbing trend of attack against the public institutions who have been the greatest single engine of economic growth and sustainability in the history of the US. I am deeply passionate about the land grant mission. It's as important now as it was 150 years ago.

除作物害虫外，春季还带来了其他潜在的有问题的节肢动物。上周，我详细介绍了春季害虫管理杂务在草莓中，但我没有提到火蚂蚁。消防蚂蚁是北卡罗来纳州的侵入性害虫，但在已经建立的县的小水果生产中是普遍关注的问题。NCDA在这些县维护了一个针对消防蚂蚁的隔离计划，可以找到2010年的隔离区here。消防蚂蚁不是小水果中的农作物害虫（尽管它们可以在烟草温室中），而是一种危害公共卫生的危害，尤其是对于商业运营中的采摘者和您采摘操作中的客户。

火蚂蚁通常会在秋季春季侵扰草莓田，并且可能选择这些地点，因为地面在黑色塑料下保持温暖和/或因为它们被滴水线吸引到水中。

There are 2 methods of controlling fire ants chemically: contact materials and baits. I prefer bait products because they are more likely to eliminate colonies when used properly. Contact materials (mound drenches) may provide a short term knock down, but unless the entire colony is treated, the fire ants will eventually rebound. Spring is a good time to use baits for fire ants because these materials take a few weeks to eliminate colonies, which means they will do their job by the time picking begins. Consult theNC农业化学手册和东南小水果IPM指南for the specific baits registered and label rates in the crop you will be treating. (关于农药建议的注释）

In anticipation of some of the questions I may get from the strawberry community--applications through the drip may be tempting for fire ants, but these will probably not go deep enough into the soil to treat entire mounds and therefore will only offer at the most temporary benefit.

The most important consideration when using baits in the spring istiming。为了有效，必须在积极觅食时使用诱饵，因为蚂蚁必须将它们捡起并将诱饵送回巢穴，在那里他们将杀死殖民地。在温度大于70 F且蚂蚁觅食的日子中，最佳的诱饵时间是早晨。您可以使用“马铃薯片测试”检查觅食活动。将土豆片或奶酪泡芙在土墩附近。如果在30分钟之内，蚂蚁找到了芯片，它们正在觅食，现在是治疗的好时机。

这 ”两步法“当然是由得克萨斯州的推广专家开发的，在2-3周后伴随着土墩淋浴的诱饵治疗，是处理大型，持久侵扰的好工具。最好与您的合作社推广代理联系以获取建议以获取建议以获取建议淋湿是因为为此目的以小果标记的产品很少。

There are organic bait and drench treatments which may be used in small fruits, and I or your cooperative extension agent can provide more information on these as well.

A group of NCSU extension entomologists conducted an Elluminate webinar on fire ant management in a wide range of cropping systems in February 2009. I participated in this webinar，，，，可以在线查看here。The entire webinar is 2.5 hours and covers fire ant management in homes, nurseries, field crops, fruits, and vegetables as well fire ant regulations in NC. Log in as a guest to view the presentation, which will download as a Java document. The password for the presentation isrifa.您将需要扬声器和/或耳机才能听到演示文稿。

More on fire ant biology and management can be found in thisStructural, Residential, and Community Insect Pest Note经过查尔斯·阿普森（Charles Apperson）和Mike Waldvogelfrom theNCSU Entomology Department.

Update
下面嵌入的是我在2009 Fire Ant网络研讨会中的幻灯片，为那些不想听整个会话的人。

我的同事，David Tarpy，我正在开始项目由硕士学生领导，研究东南部的蓝莓传粉媒介多样性和丰度雪莱·罗杰斯，，，，and this week Shelley conducted the first site visits. Our locations span the state and include conventional, organic, commercial, and unmanaged sites.

Yesterday, we set up our 2010 spring miticide trials at the中央作物研究站in Clayton, NC and the plants are 2-3 weeks behind a typical season. Our samples from this week had no mites on them, which is not surprising given the cold winter. We will continue to sample biweekly until mite populations increase and will then sample weekly.

2010年版的烟治and伯利烟草生产指南可通过NC State IPM计划在线获得。这些指南也可从县推广代理商和NCSU烟草专家提供纸质形式。我手头上有几份副本，并且在野外时总是在卡车上至少携带一张。

Because the guides are revised once a year, some information may change before the next revision comes out. The biggest change in insect management for 2010 not reflected in these guides is the recent federal registration ofCoragen(a newer insecticide from DuPont) for use in tobacco. The state labels are currently pending, and I will post again once these have been finalized. We have conducted 10 trials in the last 3 years with Coragen andBelt(another newer insecticide from Bayer with a similar mode of action) and data on how these materials compare to standard materials is in the production guides (Belt) or has been shared at grower meetings (Belt and Coragen).

Updated 4.8.2010
我还想包含指向“ Oldie但Goodie”资源的链接：Scouting Tobacco in North Carolina, 由我的烟草前任斯特林南部开发。

由于我们的凉爽和潮湿的天气延迟了2周后，我们在The The The The The The The The The The Plunomology Blueberry研究图上移植了Horticultural Crops Research Stationin Castle Hayne, NC this morning.

车站工作人员很棒，在我们9个人之间，我们在不到1小时的时间内种植了400株植物。我们总共种植了0.14英亩，0.063英亩的首映式（兔子的多样性），0.07英亩的遗产（南部高布什品种以及我最喜欢的饮食品种之一）和0.007英亩的哥伦布，以四舍五入。
我们的植物来自芬奇蓝莓苗圃in Bailey, NC. The Legacy were 3 year old plants, while the Premiere were 2 years. There's a noticeable size difference between the varieites now, but when fully grown, rabbit eye bushes can be much larger than SHB.