Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

S-1049 - Integrated Management of Pecan Arthropod Pests in the Southern U.S. Meeting
Las Cruces, NM
3 March 2013


Opening Comments: Charlie Graham will take over Mike Halls position on the pecan meeting and will be the sole pecan researcher in LA.

Selection of 2014 Meeting Site: Charles Rohla gave us two dates for our 2014 meeting at the Noble Foundation in Ardmore, OK. In April, the membership was canvassed and it was agreed that the S-1094 Pecan meeting will occur from 17 to 19 February 2014. It was proposed that we arrive on Monday February 17th, (late afternoon or evening), hold the meeting on Tuesday February 18th, and then have a tour of the facility or nearby orchards for a ½ day on Wednesday February 19th prior to departure.

Election of new project leaders: David Shapiro-Ilan as the Chair; Donn Johnson as the Vice Chair, and Russ Mizell elected as the Secretary

Mike Hall showed photo of pecan meeting from the 1970s  said he could distribute photo to those who want it

Administrative Advisor Comments: Clarence Watson: Project update due in 30 September 2015. Government sequester that happened March 1 will affect formula funds and see 5 to 8% cut. No idea about effects on grant funds. Need re-write committee set up next spring. Donn will email a reminder for members to submit to him recent publications to attach to the meeting minutes.


Discussion of Accomplishments by Objective:


Objective 1: Improved Monitoring and Forecasting Methods for Field Populations of Pecan Arthropods

Bill Reid (KSU)  working on pecan nut casebearer in managed native pecan grove. Been able to relate # flowers and # of clusters to yield: guidelines  after flower drop, count # nuts per clusters and if > 2.9 nuts per cluster you do not need to treat; if < 2.4 nuts per cluster you need to treat; the in between then go look at unmanaged native pecans or hickories outside grove. Discussion, growers do not want to check traps or count nuts per cluster.

Tiffany Johnson (NM) surveys for PNC but not much flight since -9p F freeze of Feb 2010.

Marvin Harris (TAMU): PNC in hibernaculum need green tissue volatiles to initiate development of larvae. Brad went to a Mexican blend lure for PNC which catches both strains of PNC. Blackmargined aphid - water sensitive cards correlated aphid density with honeydew density on cards. Honey dew index is a reliable measure of susceptibility to blackmargined aphid (Honaker paper). Use a honeydew index to note trees with most susceptibility to aphid. USDA will use this index to characterize susceptibility of blackmargined aphid. Pawnee is most efficient in attracting natural enemies of aphids to honeydew. Honeydew cards give an estimate of honeydew per acre and can estimate how much aphid removes from plant as kg sugar/ha  Cheyenne cultivar has enough sugar removed to warrant treatment. Pawnee did not have enough sugar removed to justify treatment but infestations occur later than other cultivars. Kiowa is intermediate. Intrinsic rate of aphid increase is less on Pawnee than on Cheyenne.

Jim Dutcher (UGA)  sampling work with aphids  use shoot count for aphids and use sticky boards and malaise traps for natural enemies (lady beetles). Five shoots/tree sampling could detect fast increase in aphid outbreaks in late August to October. Blackmargined aphid only exceeded threshold in 5 of 7 yrs in late August to October and yellow aphid only exceeded threshold in 3 of 7 yrs. Use Intrepid against PNC and did not get aphid outbreaks. Obscure scale can kill the stems. This scale has been in outbreak in some groves but has 1 generation per yr  sampling scale by sampling new shoots and old shoots. Prionus borer sampling  looked at concentration of pheromone from 1 vs 3 lures/trap (1 µl to 3 µl pheromone) noting 1 µl lure captured most adults. Peak capture up to 140 beetles per trap. Have two species. Possible tactic would be to mass trap them out of area. Water stress is important  see more borers in trees with crown gall or water stress. Have a native ambrosia beetle that attacks water stressed trees. Took video of Prionus oviposition at base of tree by roots.

Mike Hall (LSU)  trying to get growers to use PNC traps.

Bill Ree (TAMU)  looking from leaf burst to leaf expansion with timing of insecticide against phylloxera crawlers. Does this sampling work on different cultivars? Need some regional validation. Emergence and bud development in southern Arkansas and northern LA were similar. Looking at degree day model. Thinking about a JIPM article on phylloxera.

Donn Johnson (UA)  discussed stink bugs  thermal foggers  formulated permethrin for foggers  Golden Eagle to sample trees  wait ½ hr and use leaf sucker to suck up stink bugs off ground cloth. Need a progressive history of a cohort of nuts caged at different times of season and use life table to assess effects of SB. Do some molecular studies to determine damage from stink bug species that punctured nuts. Then relate it back to species that caused it. Phil Mulder (OSU)  still does PNC sampling. He has a tenured faculty position being filled that will be responsible for pecan and serve as pesticide coordinator.


Objective 2: Improved Control Systems for Pecan Arthropod Pests


Tiffany Johnson (NMSU)  did some efficacy for blackmargined aphid. Imidacloprid resistance study is looking at acetylcholine receptors.

Jim Dutcher (UGA)  A mite similar to (no ID yet) southern red mite in Albany, GA - Nextor, Portal, Acramite - all worked well, where Acramite conserved predatory mites. In July 2003, had control with release of 1000 predatory mites, T. occidentalis, in middle tree of orchard and spread to other trees  best to use the shaker release and to date no mites in that orchard. Zeal miticide killed spider mites for 4 weeks. Some concern with blackmargined aphid control. Growers using Fulfill or Beleaf that affect feeding of aphids. Closure worked well for 2 years and then third year efficacy dropped off. Higher rates of insecticides may cause resurgence because aphids increase faster than lower rates.

Mark Muegge (TAMU)  aphid resistance study  imidacloprid, acetamiprid, thiamethoxam  none were effective; Belief and Fulfill were effective against aphids. PNC mating disruption put out prior to 1st flight that shut down trap catch but not egg laying and nut entry. Discussed Mating Disruption dissemination method  paint gun globs vs. flowable microencapsulated.

Bill Ree (TAMU)  imidacloprid (group 4A) and Belay (group 4A) worked well where not used much in past. Many formulations of imidacloprid so price is cheap  many for $2.5/spray/acre. Look at alternatives to imidacloprid for rotating modes of action. Closer (Group 4C) and Beleaf both worked well. Recommendations for imidacloprid

Mike Hall (LSU)  phylloxera sprays from 4 to 1 spray by spraying at leaf burst. Recommendation  spray phylloxera at leaf burst. Rotate imidacloprid, with Fulfill, lorsban. Check water pH to be sure it is neutral to improve efficacy. Excess Imidacloprid use was often followed by leaf drop due to scorch mite.


Objective 3: Integrate Pecan Arthropod Pest Control Methods with Pecan Production Methods


See Objective 1 comments by Bill Reed.

Marvin Harris (TAMU) - Discussion on mixture sprays for insurance  what is the harm? Cause resurgence and secondary pests and resistance development.


Objective 4:> Develop real-time Decision Aids for Delivery on the Internet


Bill Reed (KSU)  northern pecan blog  add pictures with short descriptions, update twice a week, growers feed information to blog, lot of hits to blog (8,000 hits/month, cost $2/month).

Jim Dutcher (UGA)  information on Bugwood.

Bill Ree (TAMU)  use email transfer of information

Mike Hall (LSU)  use email transfer of information

Discussion on need for plant pathologist in fruit and nuts

Phil Mulder (OSU)  submit to electronic newsletter to agents called Pest e-Alerts; OK Pecan Grower Newsletter.

Marvin Harris (TAMU)  PecanipmPIPE.org program  static information has limits as a base tool; tie information online with blogs. First funded in 2008. To date, four definitive publications have been written on genesis of ipmPIPE. Facilitate communication of information between pecan stakeholders. Expected to be a dynamic program. Website is the public window. It has one IT design person and another IT person who develops interactive pages like PNC risk model that gets cooperator data input and IT person uploads it to the risk map. Some problems occurred with misidentification of budmoth as PNC which comes out earlier than PNC. No money in 2013 for PNC traps and lures. Growers need to buy their own trap supplies. PNC forecast model needs new security installed before 2013 so grower data can be submitted for processing ($5,400 from TAMU Entomology department). You can still enter your own PNC forecast data. Risk to the program is the University fear of Internet security concerns due to online banking, etc. Thinking it may move from .org to another server. Mark Muegge (TAMU) is in charge of administering ipmPIPE and dollars for future maintenance. Who pays to keep ipmPIPE risk free from hackers? Allen Knutson (TAMU) ipmPIPE should be moved to an extension website and they can deal with the security issues. Mark Muegge (TAMU) asks what to do with ipmPIPE in 2013. Mike Hall (LSU) says lets the TAMU administration deal with this problem. Phil Mulder (OSU) asked if ipmPIPE was to be stakeholder supported (subscription) to maintain pecan stakeholder property. We need to make them an active part of taking over the ipmPIPE.org program.

Marvin Harris (TAMU)  need some real-time weather for the pecan scab. Noted that the further you are from a weather station and difference in elevation the worse the prediction. We can enter phenological data on date of leaf burst (ipmPIPE has pictures) for a particular cultivar on the website. Need to have conformity in phenology terminology: outer scale split, inner scale split, leaf burst, leaf expansion. Update by experts the ipmPIPE search engine information for each pesticide group and the library information. From 2003 to 2011, questionnaires to pecan growers have become more likely to use scientific articles via in ipmPIPE. Copyright issues are honored on scientific articles. Mentioned 2012 publication titled: Producers adoption of ipmPIPE program &. - noted 3200 return users in 2012 compared to lesser numbers in earlier years. There was a direct relationship between location of users and pecan grower locations and impact data for the growers benefit $1M per yr and another $1M benefitting growers in another state. There has been request by stakeholders to broaden the leadership in ipmPIPE.

Bill Ree (TAMU)  for the insecticide search engine, he asks that we go through list of updated labels for pecan.


Updates on SCRI Grant Proposal


Old Business - none

New Business

Motions:

1) Marvin Harris (TAMU) requested motion so Phil Mulder (OSU) moved and Bill Ree seconded and motion approved to: broaden leadership of S-1049 Integrated Management of Pecan Arthropod Pests in the Southern U.S. from only entomology to 5 disciplines (weed science, entomology, horticulture, plant pathology, agriculture economics) with one producer from each nut producing region.

2) Marvin Harris (TAMU) discussed and group approved in principle: he wants to compose a letter to communicate with pecan grower associations the value/benefits of the Pecan ipmPIPE and each state pecan researcher/extension group could tailor a complementary letter to request support from state pecan grower organizations adding an option to annual dues to donate to supporting Pecan ipmPIPE. This would indicate grower interest in the Pecan ipmPIPE program supported by pecan research and extension programs.

3) Marvin Harris (TAMU) requested motion


Adjourn 6:00 pm

Abbas, G., Karar, H., and J. D. Dutcher. 2013. Efficacy of multicolored Asian ladybeetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) as a control for aphids in pecan orchards. Research Note. J. Entomol. Sci. 48(1): 70-74.

Dutcher, J. D. 2012. Seasonal abundance of aphids and aphidophagous insects in pecan. Insects 3: 1257-1270.

Dutcher, J. D. 2012. Summary of research supported by the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Pecans 2011-2012. Pecan Grower Magazine Summer Issue. Georgia Pecan Growers Association 24(1): 7.

Dutcher, J. D. 2012. Efficacy of pecan leaf scorch mite controls. Pecan Grower Magazine Summer Issue. Georgia Pecan Growers Association. 24(1): 9-11.

Karar, H., M. G. Abbas, and J. D. Dutcher. 2012. Pecan cultivar differences in aphid reproduction and abundance. Research Note. J. Entomol. Sci. 47(4): 1-6.

Knutson, A.E., and M.A., Muegge. 2010. A degree-day model initiated by pheromone trap captures for managing pecan nut casebearer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in pecans. J. Econ. Entomol. 103: 735-743.

Muegge, M.A., and A.E. Knutson. 2012. Mating disruption of pecan nut casebearer, Acrobasis nuxvorella Neuzig, in pecans. SW Entomol. 37:315-324. Mulder, P.G., M.K. Harris, and R.A. Grantham. 2012. Biology and management of the pecan weevil, Coleoptera: Curculionidae. J. Integ. Pest Mngmt. 3(1): available at: http://dx.doI.org/10.1603/IPM10027.

Paulsen, C.M., T.E. Cottrell, and J.R. Ruberson. 2012. Distribution of the black pecan aphid, Melanocallis caryaefoliae, on the upper and lower surface of pecan foliage. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 146:252-260.

Shufran, A.A., P.G. Mulder, M. Payton, and K.A. Shufran. 2013. Determining host-suitability of pecan for insects. J. Econ. Entomol. 2013. In Press.

Shufran, A.A., P.G. Mulder, W. Ree and K.A. Shufran. 2013. Assessing insects at pecan storage facilities in Oklahoma and Texas. Southwestern Entomol. Submitted.