Decide if you need to apply by noting the amount of insect and disease damage during the previous growing season. Treat at the onset of dormancy in late November until delayed dormancy, just before buds begin to open in February or early March. The exact timing during the dormant period can vary depending on the disease being controlled. Once flower buds begin opening, you risk damaging the fruit and may kill pollinating bees with certain insecticidal sprays. Spraying after pruning allows maximum coverage as there are no leaves to block the spray. Pump sprayers or compressed air sprayers can be used. Avoid making applications on water-stressed trees to avoid injury. A good time to spray is right after a period of rain or foggy weather. Do not spray during fog, rain, or during or prior to freezing weather . To avoid damage to deciduous trees, oils should not be applied within 30 days before or after applications of sulfur or certain other fungicides. Oils are generally not recommended for use during the dormant season on walnut trees. Always read the label carefully for restrictions and follow product directions.
Fixed copper fungicides contain some form of elemental copper, such as tribasic copper sulfate, large round plant pots copper oxychloride sulfate, or cupric hydroxide. For some diseases it may be necessary to make several applications to protect newly emerging shoots and flowers, especially during rainy weather. Do not apply copper compounds after bloom because it will cause russetting of the fruit. Lime sulfur is less widely recommended as a dormant spray for general use; however, it is a useful tool for apple or pear scab problems when applied just as buds swell. Lime sulfur and other sulfur-containing compounds should not be applied within 3 weeks of an oil application or tree damage may result. Avoid using lime sulfur on apricot trees, since they are particularly sensitive to sulfur. Bordeaux is a mixture of copper sulfate, hydrated lime, and water. Bordeaux has been an outstanding fungicide and bactericide that has been used for decades mainly because it is very persistent on the trees and able to withstand winter rains. However, it requires careful preparation, takes longer to mix, stains surfaces blue, and is incompatible with other pesticides. Currently there are no premixed Bordeaux products registered in California. Additionally, no lime products are registered for mixing with copper to make a Bordeaux mixture. Dormant treatments may not always be required. For some insect pests and diseases, one dormant application may be adequate with good spray coverage.
For other problems, and depending on pest pressure, up to three applications may be necessary for good control. Decide if, and how many applications, you need to apply by noting the amount of insect and disease pressure during the previous growing season.As U.S. manufacturers face an increasingly competitive environment, they seek out opportunities to reduce production costs without negatively affecting the yield or the quality of their finished products. The volatility of energy prices in today’s marketplace can also negatively affect predictable earnings. The challenge of maintaining high product quality while simultaneously reducing production costs can often be met through investments in energy efficiency, which can include the purchase of energy-efficient technologies and the implementation of plant-wide energy efficiency practices. Energy-efficient technologies can often offer additional benefits, such as quality improvement, increased production, and increased process efficiency, all of which can lead to productivity gains. Energy efficiency is also an important component of a company’s overall environmental strategy, because energy efficiency improvements can often lead to reductions in emissions of both greenhouse gases and other important air pollutants. Investments in energy efficiency are therefore a sound business strategy in today’s manufacturing environment. ENERGY STAR® is a voluntary program operated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . The primary purpose of the ENERGY STAR program is to help U.S. industry improve its competitiveness through increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact.
Through ENERGY STAR, the U.S. EPA stresses the need for strong and strategic corporate energy management programs and provides a host of energy management tools and strategies to help companies implement such programs. This Energy Guide reports on research conducted to support the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Fruit and Vegetable Processing Focus, which works with U.S. fruit and vegetable processors to develop resources and reduce information barriers for energy efficiency improvement. This Energy Guide provides a detailed overview of available measures for energy efficiency in the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry. Given the importance and rising costs of water as a resource in fruit and vegetable processing, this Energy Guide also provides information on proven measures for improving plant-level water efficiency. Moreover, water efficiency improvement can also reduce energy use for water heating, treatment, and pumping. The fruit and vegetable processing industry in the United States—defined in this Energy Guide as facilities engaged in the canning, freezing, and drying or dehydrating of fruit and vegetable products—is an important industry from both an economic and energy use perspective. In 2004, the industry generated nearly $38 billion in product shipments and employed nearly 112,000 people directly in over 1,300 different facilities . Although fruit and vegetable processing facilities can be found throughout the United States, the states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin account for roughly one half of total industry employment. The industry spent nearly $810 million on energy costs in 2002: $370 million for purchased electricity and $440 million for purchased fuels, which consisted primarily of natural gas . Because the costs of electricity and natural gas are rising rapidly in the United States, energy efficiency improvements are becoming an increasingly important focus area in the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry for managing costs and maintaining competitiveness. This Energy Guide begins with an overview of the trends, structure, and production characteristics of the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry in Chapter 2. A description of the main production processes employed in fruit and vegetable processing is provided in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the use of energy in the fruit and vegetable processing industry is discussed along with an overview of the main end uses of energy in typical canning, freezing, and drying or dehydrating facilities. Chapters 5 through 13 describe a wide range of available measures for improving energy efficiency in U.S. fruit and vegetable processing facilities, with a focus on energy-efficient technologies and practices that have been successfully demonstrated in facilities in the United States and abroad. Although new energy-efficient technologies are developed continuously , this Energy Guide focuses primarily on those technologies and practices that were both proven and currently commercially available at the time of this writing. However, plant pots round because emerging technologies can often play an important role in reducing industrial energy use, Chapter 14 offers a brief overview of selected promising emerging energy-efficient technologies of relevance to fruit and vegetable processing. Given that the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry manufactures a wide variety of products and employs a diversity of production methods, it is impossible to address all end uses of energy within the industry. This Energy Guide therefore focuses on only the most important end uses of energy in typical canning, freezing, and drying or dehydrating facilities. Lastly, recognizing the importance of water as a resource in fruit and vegetable processing as well as its rising costs, this Energy Guide concludes with information on basic, proven measures for improving plant-level water efficiency in Chapter 15. Many of the water efficiency strategies discussed in Chapter 15 can lead to energy savings as well. Table 1.1 provides a summary of key economic and energy use data presented in this Energy Guide for the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry.This Energy Guide defines the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry as facilities engaged in the canning, freezing, and drying or dehydrating of fruits and vegetables, which constitute the three major methods of fruit and vegetable preservation employed by the U.S. food industry today.
More specifically, this Energy Guide considers the four U.S. food industry sub-sectors defined by the North American Industry Classification System codes listed in Table 2.1. Also summarized in Table 2.1 are the key products manufactured by each sub-sector. It can be seen in Table 2.1 that the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry manufactures a wide variety of products, many of which are staples in the typical American home. Such staples include frozen concentrated orange juice, canned tomato sauces, ketchup, frozen French fried potatoes, canned soups and stews, frozen fruits and vegetables, dehydrated potatoes, and fruit jams and jellies.The primary purpose of fruit and vegetable processing is to preserve fruits and vegetables in a stable form that enables extended storage and shipment to distant markets, which allows consumers to purchase a wide variety of fruit and vegetable products at all times of year. Fruit and vegetable processing can also be used to provide consumers with food products that are more convenient to prepare and consume. Of all the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States each year, roughly one half are processed into canned, frozen, or dehydrated consumer products. In 2003, around 370 pounds of fruits and vegetables per capita were processed for consumption in the United States . Americans purchased nearly $21 billion worth of processed fruit and vegetable products directly in 1999, or nearly 10% of their total grocery budget .Fruit and vegetable canning is the largest sub-sector of the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry in terms of both economic output and employment. In 2004, U.S. fruit and vegetable canneries generated over $18 billion in product shipments, roughly one half of the of the industry’s total economic output . Fruit and vegetable canneries in the United States employed nearly 48,000 people directly in 2004 at 764 different facilities .In the canning process, fruits and vegetables are sterilized and preserved in hermetically sealed containers that prevent microbial spoilage. Common container materials include enamel-coated steel, tin-coated steel, aluminum, plastic, and glass . Fruit and vegetable canneries in the United States manufacture a wide variety of products, including canned tomato sauces, ketchup, fruit and vegetable juices, canned vegetables and fruits, fresh fruit juices, pickles, and fruit jellies and jams. However, canned tomatoes and tomato-based products represent the most important products from this sub-sector from an economic perspective, accounting for over $5.5 billion in product shipments in 2002 . Other major sub-sector outputs from an economic perspective are canned orange juices, pickles and pickled products, canned jellies, jams, and preserves, fresh orange juices, canned corn, and canned beans. A summary of key products manufactured by U.S. fruit and vegetable canneries is provided in Appendix A. Although fruit and vegetable canneries are located across the United States, the greatest number of canneries is found in California due to the state’s large agricultural industry. According to the California League of Food Processors, California canneries produce 33% of the world’s processed tomatoes , 100% of the U.S. supply of canned peaches and fruit cocktail, and 100% of the U.S. supply of black ripe olives . In 2002, nearly 16,000 people were directly employed in 145 fruit and vegetable canneries in California . After California, the states with the highest employment in fruit and vegetable canneries are Wisconsin , Florida , and New York . Major U.S. based companies in this sub-sector include H.J. Heinz , Del Monte Foods , J.M. Smucker , ConAgra Foods , Ocean Spray Cranberries , and Seneca Foods . Frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturing is the next largest subsector of the U.S. fruit and vegetable processing industry after canning. This sub-sector generated $8.7 billion in product shipments in 2004, or roughly one quarter of the industry’s total economic output . Frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturers in the United States employed over 35,000 people directly in 2004 at 247 different facilities . Freezing preserves fruits and vegetables by lowering their temperature to a point at which the growth of micro-organisms is severely limited . Key products manufactured by the frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturing sub-sector include frozen French fried potatoes, frozen concentrated orange juices, frozen potato patties and puffs, frozen sweet yellow corn, frozen onions , and frozen strawberries. From an economic perspective, frozen French fried potatoes represent the most significant product manufactured by the frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturing sub-sector.