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Apricot
Year-Round IPM Program
(Reviewed 9/07, updated 9/07)
These practices are recommended for a monitoring-based IPM program
that reduces water and air quality problems related to pesticide
use. Links take you to information on how to monitor, forms to
use, and management practices. Track your progress through the
year with the annual checklist. This program
covers the major pests of apricots; information on additional
pests is included in the Apricot
Pest Management Guideline.
Water quality becomes impaired when pesticides move off-site
and into water. Air quality becomes impaired when volatile
organic compounds move into the atmosphere. Each time
a pesticide application is considered, review the Pesticide
Application Checklist at the bottom of this page for information
on how to minimize air and water quality problems.
Dormant/Delayed-dormant season
activities (leaf fall to bud swell) |
| What should you be doing during
this period? |
Remove and destroy all mummy fruit to reduce the amount
of brown
rot inoculum in the
orchard. |
If shot hole disease is
a concern and the dormant season has been rainy, treat**
according to the PMG. |
If mites, scales, or aphids have been a problem in the
past:
- Examine several spurs randomly throughout the orchard
and map out areas of concern for monitoring at bloom.
- Apply** an oil spray for European fruit lecanium, brown
mite, European red mite, or San Jose scale according to
the PMG.
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Look for ground squirrels and voles in areas where they
are active.
- Manage according
to guidelines.
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| Treat** peach
twig borer with an environmentally
sound material or delay treatment until bloom. |
Other
pests you may see:
- Peachtree borer
- Fruittree leafroller egg masses
- Western tussock moth
egg masses and pupal cases (in coastal orchards)
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Bloom season activities (red bud
to petal fall) |
| What should you be doing during this period? |
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If peach twig borer was
not treated in the dormant season, apply a bloom-time treatment**
according to the PMG. |
Install pheromone
traps for peach twig borer in the
orchard no later than Mar. 15
in the San Joaquin Valley and Apr. 1 in the Sacramento
Valley.
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Check traps and keep records to determine timing of
an in-season treatment (sample degree-day
monitoring form—.
- In orchards where mating disruptants are to be used,
place dispensers in orchard as soon as moths are caught
in traps.
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Apply** fungicide treatments, as needed
according to the PMGs for:
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Watch for these invertebrate
pests:
- Cankerworm
- Citrus cutworm
- Green fruitworm
- Fruittree leafroller
- Obliquebanded leafroller
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- Western tussock moth larvae
- Katydids (from Madera south—on weed cover
or feeding on lower leaves in the crotch of the tree)
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Manage according to PMG. |
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Manage orchard floor vegetation.
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Other pests you may
see:
- Peachtree borer
- European red mite
- Bacterial canker
- Mealy plum aphid
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Fruit development period activities
(petal fall to harvest) |
| What should you be doing during this period? |
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Monitor for peach twig borer.
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Look for mealy plum aphids;
manage as needed according to the PMG. |
In problem areas, set out pheromone
traps for obliquebanded leafroller during early fruit
set.
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Apply** fungicide treatment for powdery
mildew as needed according to PMG. |
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Assess weeds to identify perennials and any species
that escaped earlier management efforts.
- Keep records of problem weed species (sample weed
survey form—.
- Manage weeds in rows with pre- or postemergent herbicides
or with cultivation.
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Look for vertebrate pests,
especially where there is ground cover.
- Voles
- Pocket gophers
- Ground squirrels
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Watch for signs
of disease:
- Bacterial canker
- Eutypa dieback
- Phytophthora root and crown rot
- Ripe fruit rot
- Shot hole disease
Manage according to PMG. |
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Watch for invertebrate
pests:
- Cankerworms
- Earwigs
- European fruit lecanium
- Fruittree leafroller
- Green fruitworm
- Katydid (from Madera south)
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- Obliquebanded leafroller
- Omnivorous leafroller
- Orange tortrix
- Redhumped caterpillar
- Tussock moth larvae
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Manage according to PMG. |
| Watch the orchard for birds.
Manage according to PMG. |
| What should you be doing during this period? |
Examine harvested fruit to
assess the effectiveness of the current year's IPM program
and to determine the needs of next year's program.
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| What should you be doing during this period? |
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Prune trees by Sept. 1 in coastal
areas and by Sept. 15 in the Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys; remove
and destroy dead wood to reduce inoculum
levels for:
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If shot hole disease has
been a problem in the previous season, treat** the orchard
before rains begin, right after leaf fall if possible. |
Assess weeds to
identify any existing summer species, emerging winter species,
and perennial weeds that escaped the previous year’s
weed control program.
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Take leaf samples in July for nutrient analysis and
fertilize orchard as necessary. |
Manage vegetation in tree middles:
- Let resident vegetation grow, consider
planting a cover crop, or clean cultivate.
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Other pests you may see:
- Armillaria root rot (oak root fungus)
- Crown gall
- Phytophthora root and crown rot
- Redhumped caterpillar
- Borers
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**Pesticide application checklist |
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When planning for possible pesticide applications in an
IPM program, review and complete this checklist to consider
practices that minimize environmental and efficacy problems.
- Choose a pesticide from the UC IPM
Pest Management Guidelines for the target pest considering:
- Select an alternative chemical or
nonchemical treatment when risk is high.
- Choose sprayers and application
procedures that keep pesticides on target.
- Identify and take special care to
protect sensitive areas (for example, waterways or
riparian areas) surrounding your application site.
- Review and follow label for pesticide
handling, storage, and disposal guidelines.
- Check and follow restricted entry
intervals (REI) and preharvest intervals (PHI).
- After an application is made, record
application date, product used, rate, and location
of application. Follow up to confirm that treatment
was effective.
- Consider water
management practices that reduce pesticide movement off-site.
- Install an irrigation recirculation
or storage and reuse system.
- Use drip rather than sprinkler
or flood irrigation.
- Limit irrigation to amount required
using soil moisture monitoring and evapotranspiration
(ET).
- Consider vegetative
filter strips or ditches.
- Redesign inlets into tailwater
ditches to
reduce erosion.
- Consider management practices that
reduce air quality problems.
- When possible, choose pesticides
that are not in emulsifiable concentrate (EC) form,
which release volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
VOCs react with sunlight to form ozone, a major air
pollutant.
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