Orchard Spraying:  Getting Results

As a supplement to information contained in the 1998-1999 New England Apple Pest Management Guide,  please see the enclosed publication by the Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service entitled:  "Orchard Spraying:  Getting Results -- A Guide to Orchard Spraying Calibration."   I hope you will find this publication useful. 

Getting Connected  ....

Also enclosed in this issue of the Vermont Apple Newsletter is a brochure that not only describes the AIM website but also outlines what you would need to get connected to the Internet.   

The Internet is a fast way to disseminate information.  For example, not all IPM Alerts get sent out by mail because the usefulness of the information, which so often depends on its timeliness, is gone by the time the information gets sent to our office personnel who print it onto postcards or onto a sheet that gets stuffed into an envelope.  It then has to be  picked up from our building and go to the UVM central mail room where it may or may not get stamped on the same day and sent off to the Burlington post office to get further sorted and distributed across Vermont.   It is so much faster to send out the information
through the Internet by email and/or posting it on the web.  Within minutes of when the information is written it can be distributed electronically.  (However, I must admit that the  software used to post information on the web can be very frustrating -- using the web is by no means a perfect system either. But, it usually is faster !)

A wealth of information can be retrieved through the Internet .... check it out !

Food Quality Protection Act - The "Apple Matrix"

The EPA Office of Pesticides Programs has pulled together information on organophosphate use and usage information and organized this information in the form of matrices or tables.  The EPA states on their website:

"To arrive at realistic estimates of cumulative risks, we first need more realistic estimates of actual pesticide usage.  We cannot simply assume that every pesticide approved for use on a particular commodity will actually  be used, and that the resulting residues will be at the maximum level.  We need real-world usage information. 

To that end, the Biological and Economic Analysis Division of EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs is searching the available data and compiling tables, or matrices, which display information, crop by crop, about the amount of each OP pesticide used, what critical pests it is used to combat, and, where available, information about regional differences in use  patterns. These DRAFT matrices are being posted to the Internet to allow public access. Comments on these DRAFT  matrices may be submitted through the "Comments" link at the bottom of this page, or they may be mailed or e-mailed to:  Kathy Davis. EPA/OPP/BEAD, (7503C) 401 M St. SW,   Washington, DC  20460"

A Draft of the New England Apple Matrix is on the EPA website.  For your convenience, I have printed it off the web and have enclosed it for you to review.  I have not reviewed it yet but will be doing so and will be sending my comments to Kathy Davis --- you should, too.