Mid-Atlantic Orchard Monitoring Guide (NRAES 75)
The tree fruit industry represents a complex agroecosystem that requires numerous management decisions in diverse areas in order to maintain profitability in an increasingly competitive global market. Wise decisions begin with a thorough knowledge of the various production components and an awareness of their status in the orchard. Monitoring is the tool for acquiring periodic information about the orchard situation so that timely decisions can be made and action can be taken. It seemed appropriate to assemble the collective expertise of numerous individuals into a regional guide for orchard monitoring because there are more similarities than differences in the production of tree fruits in the mid-Atlantic region. Our goal was to develop a user-friendly, multi-disciplinary guide for use by fruit growers, consultants, chemical field representatives, and research and extension personnel. This Mid-Atlantic Orchard Monitoring Guide is authored by 37 fruit researchers and extension specialists from land grant universities in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as researchers from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Authors for the various sections of the guide were selected by discipline chairs in entomology, plant pathology/ nematology and horticulture. Discipline chairs were responsible for collecting and assembling written material and photos from the authors for submission to the editor.