Project overview
We have brought together a team of entomologists, pathologists, horticulturists, a soil microbiology expert, an agricultural economist, and an evaluation specialist to develop, deliver and evaluate tart cherry orchard management practices in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Utah.

Project Objectives
- Biointensive IPM Strategies
- Stakeholder input
- IPM adoption
- Social and economic evaluation

Biointensive IPM Strategies
Develop and deliver arthropod monitoring systems for rebound species.
The key arthropod pests that must be controlled in tart cherry production are the plum curculio (PC) and the cherry fruit fly (CFF) complex. However, there is a range of other pests that may rebound in the absence of OPs. We will use a 3-minute visual sample to detect, monitor, and threshold-assess these species.

Develop and deliver monitoring, phenology model, and OP-alternatives for plum curculio (PC).
In Michigan, OP alternatives will be evaluated in on-farm trials for PC control. In years 1-2, cooperators will have the 'bail out' option of applying an OP if the alternative strategies are not working. The researcher and consultant's intensive sampling will provide a risk aversive way to make rescue decisions. PC monitoring based on the modified pyramid trap and an extensive fruit injury sample will also be employed in Michigan cooperator orchards. This data will allow the development and subsequent evaluation of thresholds. In addition, we will evaluate the potential of PC summer generation trap-out.

Preliminary lab and field bioassays have demonstrated efficacy of two species of entomopathogenic nematodes for control of PC prepupae. Field trials will be conducted initially at university research, feral tree, and neglected orchard sites in Utah and Michigan.

Develop and deliver cherry fruit fly (CFF) monitoring, phenology model, and OP-alternatives.
In Michigan, on-farm trials will be conducted by consultation and agreement between producers and researchers to test OP alternatives for fruit fly control. In years 1-2, cooperators will have the 'bail out' option of applying either azinphos-methyl or phosmet (conditional registration until 2005) if the alternative strategies are not working. CFF oviposition in fruit is the critical biological observation or biofix point for subsequent sprays. An on-farm research effort will be managed in cooperator orchards to improve biofix accuracy.

Develop and deliver mite economic injury levels (EIL), monitoring and orchard functional ecological sustainability indicator.
Plant feeding mites can severely desiccate cherry leaves, and defoliate trees in summer and early fall where mite outbreaks have been induced by chemical inputs that disrupt natural predator-prey population regulation. We have developed and tested a mite rating system for tart cherries. This system can give growers and pest managers a site-specific tool to assess whether inputs for insect, mite, disease, and nutrient management are moving the orchard system toward or away from ecological sustainability.

Evaluate reduced-risk fungicide spray programs on different cultivars.
Three types of field experiments will be conducted and we will rate leaf spot (incidence and defoliation), brown rot, powdery mildew, and phytotoxicity (leaf symptoms and fruit size).

Experiment 1. Montmorency plots at research stations in Michigan and Wisconsin will be utilized in all 4 years to integrate one to three copper sprays to relieve selection pressure by SI and strobilurin fungicides and to eliminate use of chlorothalonil. Two sets of copper treatments will be tested: one using Bordeaux mixture, the other using a fixed copper fungicide. Because of the risk of phytotoxicity from copper, leaf yellowing in the absence of leaf spot lesions will be rated three times during the growing season.

Experiment 2. This experiment will be conducted in Michigan in Years 1-4 in an existing block of alternating rows of Montmorency and Balaton™ trees. The purpose will be to compare the performance of various fungicides that are currently available, or in the registration pipeline, on the two tart cherry varieties that will account for virtually all commercial production in the next decade. Disease control, phytotoxicity, and yield will be compared. The spray programs will be designed with resistance management and economics in mind.

Fungicide resistance management.
Sampling in Year 1 will be done to establish a baseline characterization of fungicide resistance in B. jaapii to strobilurins and SIs in Michigan and Wisconsin. Sampling in Year 4 will concentrate on orchards where leaf spot control has failed despite timely application of the SIs or strobilurin fungicides. Populations that are significantly above the regional average will be considered resistant.

Develop leaf spot resistant tart cherry cultivars.
We believe that developing leaf spot resistant cultivars can form the backbone of a long-term sustainable solution. Recent research indicates that durable resistance to cherry leaf spot is possible. Two sources of resistance to cherry leaf spot have been identified. In Year 3 we will evaluate this material by infecting replicated leaves with a collection of leaf spot isolates. Resistance will be moved into elite material starting in Year 4.

Cultural management for natural enemy/beneficial augmentation, and tree physiology and soil quality as indicators of tree and orchard sustainability.
From 6 years of previous cooperative work with many of the PI's, we have developed an array of cherry orchard water quality, soil quality, ground cover management and mulching recommendations to reduce herbicide use, surface water contamination and build soil in cherry orchards. We will inform all our grower cooperators of these management practices. We will also extend this information across the participating states through our extension programming.

Develop and deliver a soil quality indicator system.
Twelve Michigan cherry production sites (6 cooperator sites & 6 sites representing abandoned-organic--biointensive IPM--highest input orchards) will be used to measure the impacts of changes in pest management practices on orchard ecosystem quality. Baseline data will be collected in Year 1 on site history, GPS-referenced location, orchard goal, pest management practices for the past five years (1997-2002), soil texture/type, soil chemistry, nematode community structure, and soil food web parameters. Mineralizable carbon and nitrogen will be measured from a 0 to 6 in soil depth. Successive monitoring will be repeated in Years 2-3. We will analyze the relationships between changes in the pest management practices and changes in the soil biology.

Assess carbon assimilation as a measure of biotic and abiotic stresses.
Carbon can be a sensitive predictor of tree performance under different environmental stresses. Pest action thresholds and EILs are usually developed independently for each pest, and often overlook other non-direct-damage factors that affect the crop. Through carbon assimilation, a plant essentially integrates the collective abiotic and biotic stresses in the environment that can be measured collectively as reduced potential carbon assimilation. We will assess and predict the impact of these collective impacts on current and future tart cherry yield using a carbon assimilation (photosynthesis) model. This model will determine assimilation of carbon, storage of carbon, and the degree of excess that may be lost to pest injury without a detrimental effect on the crop. The model will be robust enough to take into consideration the effect of additional pests, environmental variations, crop load, and cultural practices on fruit development.

Stakeholder Input
We believe that the creation of a system that provides continual stakeholder input into the project is critical to enhancing the stability and sustainability of proposed project activities. Without systematic feedback from key stakeholders, any project risks getting off-track from industry needs and priorities. A critical first step under this objective is the creation of a Tart Cherry RAMP Management Team to provide guidance and oversight to all activities throughout the project. Members will include stakeholders who represent industry, research, and extension viewpoints from all co-operating states, enabling wide-scale participation and interest in the project.

The initial Management Team action will be to hire a Project Coordinator. The coordinator will be pivotal to information integration and dissemination, extension and outreach coordination, and maintenance of centralized data bases, report writing, and facilitation of management team meetings. Team members have agreed to meet in person annually and to participate in telephone conference calls as arranged by the project coordinator and/or manager.

More information on the Management Team

The project will: 1) create and distribute a biannual tart cherry IPM newsletter, 2) create and post a tart cherry IPM project website, and 3) capitalize on existing outreach and extension activities already in place in each state. The newsletter will be distributed to the national CMI mailing list and will include project research updates, grower profiles, and other IPM news for tart cherry growers. The website will provide a central clearing house of information for tart cherry IPM implementation, including a detailed project description, research results and updates, and relevant IPM topics. Extension and outreach is very strong for tart cherries in all three participating states. As such, the project will capitalize on these efforts by building project-specific activities into existing events, such as annual fruit grower meetings, code-a-phone updates, and MSU Fruit Crop Advisory Team (CAT) Alerts.

To measure the increased likelihood of IPM adoption and the self-reported use of IPM by tart cherry producers, we will gather baseline data on key IPM practices and knowledge, as well as the barriers to adoption through an industry-wide survey (see Objective 5 below for details). Following each growing season, a brief follow-up survey will be sent to all growers on the Cherry Marketing Institute mailing list to document changes in IPM attitudes, perceptions, and self-reported use, that allows us to test for significance.

Formative project evaluation is a critical component of any project as it provides project managers with real-time information that can be used to improve efforts while the project is still underway. Equally important, a summative evaluation at the end of a project documents the successes and shortcomings of project investments. For this RAMP grant, we are proposing both formative and summative evaluation activities that will integrate social and economic data with the biotic and abiotic data produced under Objective 1. It is crucial to integrate these data collection efforts so that all stakeholders, from growers to researchers, understand the impacts of project activities and can make information-based decisions on how to proceed.

During the first year of the project, an industry-wide survey will be developed and implemented to create an industry baseline for the project in eight management areas: field scouting, information sources, pest management decisions, field management decisions, weed management, insect management, disease management, and soil and water quality management. In addition to the management areas, a baseline on attitudes and perceptions of IPM will be collected. These baseline data will serve three main purposes for the project: 1) they will help identify the best opportunities for extension and outreach efforts for tart cherry growers in all three project states, 2) they will identify the areas of IPM that pose the greatest challenges for adoption and guide the content of extension and outreach efforts, and 3) they will provide the project with a baseline against which the project can measure any change in the overall industry's management practices and attitudes regarding IPM.

During years 2 and 3 of the project, portions of the survey that measure IPM attitudes and self-reported use will be distributed to the same mailing list, providing the project with the necessary data for measuring significant change. At the end of the final year of the project, the entire survey will again be distributed to measure change in all eight management areas.

Parallel to the collection of social, biotic and abiotic data, detailed economic data will be collected and analyzed to measure the net returns from moving from traditional pest management program to reduced risk options described in Objective 1. A worksheet will be designed to collect information on cost, quality, and yield changes from the specific control and experimental treatments described in the other project objectives. The base budgets and worksheet information will be used to quantify changes to grower net returns when moving from a traditional to reduced-risk management practices identified in Objective 1.