SWD Update- July 15, 2022

Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring 2022- this year we are monitoring at a limited number of sites.

SWD has been caught in Elgin, Oxford, Middlesex, Waterloo, Norfolk, Brant, Hamilton, & Niagara, and numbers are increasing. 

Berry crops with ripe fruit are now at risk and growers should begin a regular spray program if there is ripe fruit on your farm, including in late June-bearing strawberries, day-neutral strawberries, summer-fruiting raspberries, and blueberries.

Summary of SWD trap catches:

To monitor on your own farm you can use sticky cards to identify adults, or salt water tests or plastic baggie tests to monitor for larvae in fruit.

 Do not count on sprays alone– use as many of these tools as possible through the season to control SWD: 

• Spray every 5-7 days.
  • Using the best products first will help knock the population back down at the beginning of the season. The most efficacious products include Exirel, Delegate, Success, Harvanta and Cormoran.
  • Reapply after ½ inch of rain.
  • Use products from different groups.
  • Spray in the morning (6-10am) or in the evening (6-10 pm) when SWD is active.
  • Do not spray in temperatures above 25C.
  • Pyrethroid insecticides (Mako, Up-Cyde) will not work well in hot weather and will cause an increase in mites. Save these products for later when weather cools off and mite pressure is low.
• Keep your fruit picked regularly and clean- this can be very effective!
• Cool fruit immediately after harvest.
• Keep alleys clean- either remove unmarketable fruit or crush it in the alley
• After unmarketable fruit is removed it should be destroyed (disposed of, or leave in plastic bags in the sun).
• Make the environment less favourable to SWD- prune the canopy and manage water to reduce humidity (repair leaking drop lines).
• Calibrate your sprayers now to ensure excellent coverage once you start to spray.
• Renovate June-bearing strawberries as soon as possible.