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Harvest Assessments - Your Pest Management Report Card

Before the busy time of harvest, take the time to assess your crop pest-wise. We all take mental notes of the damage observed as the apples are picked, but often there is no time to write it down. By the time harvest is over, the specifics of the damage may be forgotten.

Publication 310, Integrated Pest Management for Apples, includes a sample Harvest Assessment form (see page 215, Appendix H) for growers and scouts to use. This chart lists the major insects and diseases, the number of apples to pick per tree (based on the tree size), with space to record the level of pest damage. Make a copy of this form for each block to be assessed, and add the completed page to your scouting records for future reference.

Ideally, apples should be taken form the upper, inner and lower part of the tree. Information in Publication 310 can help to identify damage, using the pictures and descriptions of the damage.

Of special interest to OMAFRA specialists will be damage from European apple sawfly (page 73) and codling moth (page 90).

Also, anything else that you might find, or pest management strategies that didn't work for you this season are of interest. Please contact Kathryn Carter, Margaret Appleby or Leslie Huffman for help, as we continue to tackle the ever-changing pest complex in apples.