Berry field services, Scouting for Spotted Wing Drosophila

Berry Field Services

Special scouting and alerts for Spotted Wing Drosophila SWD is a fruit fly that poses a major threat to northwest berries and stone fruits. We have developed scouting protocols that will continue to evolve as we gain knowledge of this new pest.

Special scouting and reporting sheets for blueberries destined for Korea This new market opportunity for growers comes with the need for third party certification. We offer that service by monitoring for the presence of insects banned by Korea and keeping a record of those instances. We also can be present during field inspections.

Regular Field Scouting is at the heart of our berry field services. It is done by a scout trained in the Peerbolt Crop Management (PCM) protocols for discovering what the pest levels and crop conditions are at a particular moment in a field. That information is transferred to the grower through the Ag Reports, an online program developed by PCM for this purpose. Our senior staff see the information within 12-24 hours of the scout's visit, and they send immediate recommendations by email to the growers who have contracted for the service. We have a demo of the program that can be seen on the Ag Reports site by using the user name: jsmith and the password: demo.

Growers who get regular field scouting benefit because the field visits and recommendations offer them an objective appraisal of their fields and pest conditions. Using this information the grower makes an informed decision on management options.

Additional benefits to scouting services include:
• An alert system so that, if the scout reports any conditions that requires immediate attention, you will be notified by phone and then by email.
• Scouting reports that can be use to track pest levels and treatment effects. These can also be used to verify to public agencies and customers that Integrated Pest Management strategies are being employed.
• Having the assurance that, when you're in the middle of a busy season and might not have time to be checking your fields, someone is keeping an eye on pest levels.
• Increased knowledge of the lifecycles and yearly patterns of the various insects (both good and bad) and fungal diseases that influence the quality and quantity of your production.
• Client growers have a password-protected space on the AgReports site that shows them every scouting visit to their fields, what the scout saw during the visit, where the scout was, and what the recommendations were for that visit. Also archived in their area are the nutrition and recommendation reports for soil or leaf/tissue or other type of test taken by PCM.

Pricing: Regular field scouting is offered during the season and it's cost is based on the type of visits needed (just SWD, just Export, or regular field scouting -- or a combination of the three)It is also based on the number of estimated visits, location of the fields, and type of crop. Give us a call at 503-289-7287 to discuss your needs. We will work up an estimate of costs.

Sampling and analysis : This includes taking the tests, getting them to the lab, and giving you an analysis of the test results, plus recommendations to restore your field to a healthy state.
• Soil Sampling & Analysis
• Tissue Sampling & Analysis
• Nematode Sampling & Analysis
• Disease Sampling & Analysis
Call us at 503-289-7287 to schedule a test and discuss an estimate of charges.

Hourly consulting
The charge for hourly consulting with Tom Peerbolt is $125.00 per hour for those who are not regular clients.