Fruit Notes: What New England Tree Fruit Growers Told Us About IPM Challenges and Pest Control

Pest control decisions in New England orchards rarely come down to a single insect, disease, or spray date. They reflect weather, crop stage, market risk, neighbor concerns, and years of grower experience. A Spring 2026 Fruit Notes article, “What Growers Told Us: Using Listening Sessions to Guide IPM in New England Tree Fruit Systems,” brings those realities into focus through a grower listening session in Massachusetts.

This article details the key takeaways of a January 2025 listening session in which 12 Massachusetts apple and peach growers gathered to share their pest management perceptions with the socioeconomic members of the Cultivating Tomorrow's Orchards research team.

Plum Curculio and Disease Pressure

Plum curculio is one of the most persistent pests for New England fruit growers. Above, a plum curculio larva damages the inside of a peach.

Among the pest challenges named by Massachusetts growers, plum curculio rose to the top. This small weevil can cause serious damage to apple and peach trees, especially during bloom periods.

The listening session also emphasized disease concerns including apple scab and fire blight. Growers also raised concern about emerging bacterial diseases that may pose new or increasing threats to orchards.

IPM Adoption for New England Fruit Growers

The conversation with Massachusetts apple and peach growers revealed many are already using IPM principles. They monitor conditions, track pest development, and adjust management based on risk.

The practices described in the listening session include:

• Predictive pest models based on degree days

• Weather monitoring to guide treatment windows

• Frequent sprays tailored to current pest and disease pressure

• Spray mixes that may include fungicides, insecticides, and plant growth regulators

• Weather-based tools to improve spray timing and coverage

• Trap trees, border sprays, and lure-based attractants for pests such as plum curculio

However, barriers to IPM adoption is sometimes slow due to grower risk aversion, recognizing new methods could have season-long impacts if they do not work as planned. Additional adoption barriers growers consider include product availability, label limits, weather, pest pressure, and market requirements.

Public Perception

The article also reports growers face social and community concerns. These include public perception of sprays, neighbor concerns, and misunderstandings about how fruit is produced.

This is especially clear around organic production. Growers noted that organic and non-organic systems face different expectations from the public. Organic methods are often misunderstood, and some consumers may assume “organic” means no pest control inputs at all. In reality, organic orchards also manage insects and diseases, though with different approved materials and practices.

The listening session pointed to a difficult balance. Growers want to be transparent, but they also need the public to understand that apple and peach production in New England faces real and repeated pest pressure. Education becomes part of pest management because trust affects how communities respond to orchard practices.

Economic and Weather Pressure

Massachusetts growers also recognized several economic barriers that have eroded profit margins and could impede adoption of IPM strategies including:

• Rising costs of chemicals

• Labor costs

• Equipment costs

Growers also emphasized the unique challenges faced by retail and wholesale orchards, highlighting the importance of the "farm-to-table" movement and local sales in public-facing businesses.

Finally, the growers lamented erratic weather patterns that have led to unpredictable growing seasons and higher susceptibility to pests and diseases.

Read the Fruit Notes Article

The full Fruit Notes article gives more context on what growers said, data collection methods, and how the listening session can guide future IPM work in New England tree fruit systems.

Thank you to the authors, Oluwafunmilayo Ajiferuke, Alexa Lamm, Jaime Piñero, Elizabeth Garofalo, Jon Clements, and Tracy C. Leskey, for sharing the listening session results with Fruit Notes readers.

Download the Fruit Notes article PDF below to read the complete findings and consider how they compare with pest and disease decisions in your own orchard.

What Growers Told Us-Using Listening Sessions to Guide IPM in New England Tree Fruit Syste.

Download • 633KB

For more information about the listening sessions our research team conducted with tree fruit growers across the eastern United States, read our 2025 Listening Session recap blog.

Fruit Notes is a joint publication of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture and UMass Extension Fruit Team.Sure! Please provide the content or main points of the blog post you'd like me to summarize in an excerpt.