• Ants are a diminishing problem. We have effective, easy to use and reasonably priced ant bait formulations available.
• Damage from gum and brown spot due to plant
bugs is a fairly stable issue, but when combined with the damage from NOW, it becomes a major reason why Aldrich deliveries fail to qualify for high-quality premiums. Understanding which factor is driving losses is essential. Effective management begins with accurate diagnosis. Monterey and Fritz, the last to harvest, have similar challenges from NOW. But we do not currently have enough of these varieties in house to comment on. We’ll cover these once harvest concludes. Independence Faces a Different Threat Reject levels in the Independence follow a different pattern. Leaf- footed plant bugs and stink bugs have created problems for several varieties for years. Independence is especially attractive to plant bugs, with brown spot being the result of their feeding. While losses due to NOW fluctuate, losses due to brown spot have been increasing for several years. Unfortunately, controlling plant bugs has been especially challenging. Overlapping generations and limited control options have limited growers’ abilities to effectively manage this insect.
Understanding Rejects Matters Sound knowledge of the cause of your rejects is critical for effective control. Blue Diamond can provide you with the breakdown of damage in your deliveries, and I encourage growers to request this information on a representative number of their deliveries. The chart below shows the actual damage levels in Aldrich deliveries as vertical bars and the breakdown of the major causes of damage. From this chart, we can gather a few takeaways: • NOW damage generally follows the pattern of the total rejects. NOW is once again the major cause of rejects in Aldrich.
third NOW flight often coincides with the actual harvest of the Nonpareil, allowing another generation of moths to lay eggs on varieties that remain vulnerable. Although it is still too early to establish meaningful statewide quality trends for 2026 pollinizers, early deliveries of Aldrich have shown significantly higher reject levels than the corresponding Nonpareil blocks from the same orchards. That difference reinforces a lesson the industry continues to learn: effective NOW management must extend beyond Nonpareil harvest.
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SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2026
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