Archives for June 2013

Maskelled Bandit

If you don’t pay attention, the Maskell bandit will steal the health of your conifers. Maskell scales, Lepidosaphes pallida, will cause needle browning and branch dieback on Cryptomeria, Sciadopitys, and Pinus thunbergiana. Heavy infestations can cause tree death.

Maskell scale on cryptomeria. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

Maskell scales on cryptomeria cause twig dieback. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

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Fruit IPM Report: Week Ending 6/11/13

Fruit IPM Report 6-11-13 – Click to View | Download | Print

Grape Berry Moth Egg

Grape Berry Moth Egg

In this report:

  • Peach
  • Apple
  • Pear
  • Wine Grape
  • Scouting Calendar
  • Blueberry
  • Trap Counts

Tomato Disease Forecasting Report 6-11-13

6-11-13 Tomato Report – Click to Download

Disease severity values (DSVs) for early blight, septoria leaf spot, and tomato anthracnose development are determined daily based on leaf wetness (due to rainfall, dew) and air temperature.

On a daily basis DSV values can range from 0 to 4 where 0 = no chance for disease development to 4 = high chance for disease development.
DSVs are accumulated during the production season.

Fungicide applications are based on an individually determined DSV threshold. The first fungicide application for the control of these three diseases is not warranted until 35 DSVs have accumulated from your transplanting date. After that, growers can base fungicide applications on different DSV thresholds.

On-Farm Research Results in Cranberry: Altacor

Rutgers Technician Robert Holdcraft sweeping a cranberry bed.

Rutgers Technician Robert Holdcraft
sweeping a cranberry bed.

Altacor is a new insecticide registered in cranberries. A few weeks ago we conducted an experiment to test the efficacy of Altacor® (DuPont) at 4.5 oz/acre against spotted fireworm larvae.
[Read more…]

2013 Cucurbit Downy and Powdery Mildew Management Guidelines

by Margaret McGrath, Beth Gugino, Kate Everts, Steve Rideout, Nathan Kleczewski, and Andy Wyenandt

2013 Fungicide Resistance Management Table for Cucurbit Downy and Powdery Mildew Control

Producing a high-quality cucurbit crop necessitates effectively managing downy mildew.  This foliar disease is common in the mid-Atlantic and northeast because the pathogen produces a large quantity of asexual spores that are easily dispersed long distances by wind, which enables it to spread widely.  Although the pathogen cannot survive between growing seasons where winter temperatures kill cucurbit crops, it moves throughout the eastern USA each year via its asexual spores. The pathogen does not affect fruit directly; however, affected leaves die prematurely which results in fewer fruit and/or fruit of low quality (poor flavor, sunscald, poor storability). [Read more…]

Vegetable Briefs and Disease of the Week

  • Cucurbit downy mildew was reported as far north in Wayne and Nash Counties in North Carolina and Texas this past week. All cucurbit growers are urged to begin scouting. To track cucurbit downy mildew in the US please visit http://cdm.ipmpipe.org/
  • No late blight has been reported in the region to date and has only been found as far north as central Florida to-date. To track late blight in the US please visit http://usablight.org/
  • Want more information on what’s going on, please sign up for the Jersey Vegetable Crop Ag Updates at: http://jerseyvegcropsagupdates.blogspot.com/.
  • An update and results from Penn State University on the strawberry virus survey they conducted this spring can be found here.

Vegetable Disease of the Week

Cucurbit downy mildew of cucumber