It’s Pre-game for Many Fruit Growers

“Early-season applications are so, so important,” says Wayne Brandt of Brandt Farms near Reedley, California. “If you end up with constant hatch, you are not going to be able to get every last infected fruit out of the box and consequently you won’t be able to send it to Central America or Mexico, or much less, go to Taiwan or Hong Kong.”

Brandt works with Karl Warkentin, Pest Control Advisor (PCA) with Britz Simplot Grower Solutions, Five Points, California to provide scouting and integrated pest control. Warkentin is set for the pace to pick up, as the stone fruit around the Fresno area will begin blooming toward the end of February with worm control sprays beginning in March.

“Around this area, we have more and more commodities grown – more citrus, more grapes, more almonds, more walnuts – more crops in a small area than ever before,” says Warkentin.

And, with more and diverse crops have come more and diverse pests.

“We’re checking for multiple, multiple pests,” explains Warkentin. “It takes time. You’ve got to slow down and thoroughly watch things.”

Effective scouting is important to the biorational approach that Brandt has chosen for his fresh-picked business. He’s intent on lowering residues even as he gets the effective control to keep worms out of the fruit.

“Let’s do these things that are beneficial to keeping residues down,” he says.

“There is no reason you can’t get great control with a softer approach and integrated methods,” agrees Tino Lopez of Valent BioSciences, who serves the Fresno area. “You have to stay on top of it, you need to be early, and timely and closely monitoring the situation.”

And that’s what coaches call game-day execution.