Cornell tool for forecasting apple pest and disease

[Lot2Learn]

The Virginia Tech Tree Fruit Extension and Outreach just posted an interesting link from a Cornell project regarding Integrated Pest Management.

Here's the link: http://newa.cornell.edu/

If there's a linked weather station near you, then you can get an near-term forecast for various apple maladies. For example, here's the fireblight forecast for my area for the next several days: http://newa.cornell.edu/index.php?p...nrcc.cornell.edu/newaModel/fire_blight/va_cov

It's pretty cool, but do any of the apple gurus know how accurate this tool might be?

 

[Maya]

Been using it for years. Pretty accurate, but it doesn't replace your own good IPM practices. Read, study, monitor, keep up on the latest news and spend countless hours in your orchard(s) first. I just use it to verify my observations.

You need to know how to combat diseases and pests first, this is just a model for forecasting them based on the data you input. It does give management recommendations though, but its geared for commercial users that have a good base knowledge of IPM .

Keep in mind if the nearest weather station is a little ways away, it may not be as accurate.

 

[Maya]

I actually bookmarked two different pages, the two closest weather stations to see if there are differences in their assessments.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Apples are just a hobby for me, a means to an end come November. I had no idea this information was so readily available, and I find it fascinating. I too have a lot2learn!