{"id":1555,"date":"2026-04-13T11:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:08:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:08:54","slug":"within-season-scale-management-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/2026\/04\/within-season-scale-management-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Within Season Scale Management – 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Exposed
Exposed San Jose scale on peach tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While this season has been off to an unpredictable start, a famous American once said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except San Jose scale and taxes,”… or something like that. Although we had some unfortunate cold spells, overall we have had a warmer start to the season than we did last year. As such, the first large peak of San Jose scale crawler activity is earlier this year compared to last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the degree day (DD) timing starting at February 1st <\/sup>using a base of 51o<\/sup>F and a max of 90o<\/sup>F<\/strong>, at this point last year we had accumulated 573 DD and this year we are at 628 DD<\/strong> (UGA Weather<\/a>). I anticipate the first main peak of crawler activity to occur at approximately 700 DD since Feb. 1<\/strong>, and with the continued dry and warm days approaching, I anticipate the first peak of San Jose scale crawler activity to occur within approximately 7-10 days from now in Fort Valley, GA<\/strong>, so about 10-14 days for the Ridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a reminder, scale crawler activity can be monitored relatively easy (although a bit tedious). Visually inspect limbs for live scale and\/or wrap a branch with a strip of electrical tape plus a strip of double sided tape around that (see image below). Focus particularly on trees in blocks with a known history of scale issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Monitoring San Jose scale crawlers with double-sided tape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Management of San Jose crawlers is not necessary for all blocks peaches, particularly if all blocks received two dormant oil applications<\/strong> this season. If a dormant spray was missed or you have a block with chronic scale issues, then I would suggest considering crawler management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once crawler activity begins to increase, consider management insect grower regulators, such as Esteem<\/strong> (6 oz\/acre) or Centaur<\/strong> (34.5 oz\/acre). Alternatively, when targeting the scale crawlers, Venerate XC<\/strong> (2 qt\/acre applied twice over 7 day period; 4 qt total) or diatomaceous earth<\/strong> (i.e. Celite 610 @ 10 lb\/acre) have both showed efficacy at suppressing San Jose scale. I have also seen decent management of crawlers using Brigade 2EC <\/strong>(bifenthrin) when applied to target other pests, such as plum curculio or OFM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If management occurs later, once the crawlers have already settled and\/or you cannot find active crawlers in a block with a history of scale, it may be best to treat with Movento<\/strong> (check label rate). Note that Movento should be applied once the trees have substantial leaf area, flushing new growth, and should be tank mixed with an adjuvant <\/strong>that has spreading and penetrating properties. Anecdotally, I have applied Movento late April and have had really good success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"White<\/a>
White peach scale on peach tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One concern to note is that white peach scale<\/strong> (pictured above) has been showing up more frequently in middle GA and along the Ridge. I generally don’t talk much about white peach scale because I rarely see infestations at damaging levels, but this scale insect can be just as devastating at San Jose scale, so we all need to keep an eye on this one. Thankfully, our management practices for SJS should keep the white peach scale suppressed as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, please check out the management guide<\/a> for more detailed recommendations. And don’t hesitate to let me know<\/a> if you have any questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully the rest of season goes smoothly!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take care, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While this season has been off to an unpredictable start, a famous American once said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except San Jose scale and taxes,”… or something like that. Although we had some unfortunate cold spells, overall we have had a warmer start to the season than we did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-others"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peaches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}