Rutgers Cooperative Extension
NJAES has a new program dedicated to risk management for Agritourism and Direct Marketing. Risk management tools aimed at addressing the following issues can be found our new Extension Training For Agritourism Development website.
Educational videos, enterprise budgets, fact sheets and assessment checklists are some of the helpful tools you will find.
This winter, especially January and February have been a bit cold, complete with ‘polar vortexes’ and lots of snow. There have been a couple of newspaper articles about how this will negatively impact insect pest populations, specifically brown marmorated stink bug. Is this true?
For BMSB, most likely NO. While insects do have something similar to antifreeze in their hemolymph (blood) there is a critical freezing temperature at which most species will die. Preliminary research by Dr. Tom Kuhar at Virginia Tech says the super cooling point – when the blood freezes – of BMSB is 5ºF. Populations in natural habitats may have suffered from the extreme cold weather. However, the majority of the BMSB population spends its winter with you, tucked inside the attic and under the eaves of houses, in boxes, under tarps etc. where it is warmer. They are in a reproductive diapause at this point, meaning that adult BMSB have physically prepared themselves to survive cold temperatures, and snow further acts to insulate the populations. There is a saying in Japan that lots of snow in the winter means lots of stink bugs (BMSB) in the summer! Research by Dr. K. Kiritani in Japan shows that BMSB is better adapted at surviving the winter than other stink bug species. There are many factors that contribute to winter mortality or survival and previous research suggests ~20% winter mortality for BMSB in any given year, regardless of weather.
So since the polar vortex may not keep the stink bugs at bay, keep monitoring your crops in the mid-late Spring for the initial dispersal.
Hold your horses, the Spring Equinox is not until March 20th and if the 10-day forecasts hold true, then we are in for another visit from old man winter before the seasons change.
Skip laurel buried in a snow bank. Photo: Richard Buckley, Rutgers PDL
Last autumn I was blogging about the drought conditions that we were experiencing. Thankfully, this winter’s precipitation, albeit lots of snow, has changed our water status in the region. The U.S. Drought Monitor no longer lists New Jersey as having abnormally dry or moderate drought. You can view more details at http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/page_drought.html
Expect I will have to post about snow mold disease and flooding, once we get a thaw.
The Rutgers Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations for NJ, newly updated for 2014, is available for free download. Each section, crop, and topic is available separately.
Having printed copies in your pesticide building or in pickup truck is also desirable. Contact your County Extension Office to purchase printed editions.
The severity of the current winter weather has growers and ag agents questioning how to accurately assess vineyard damage and develop a plan for coping with the damage through cultural management.
Fruit Specialist Dan Ward supplies comprehensive answers.
Cross sections of grapevine compound buds showing the location of primary (P), secondary (S), and tertiary (T) buds.
P bud is dead, while S and T buds are alive.
Photo courtesy WSU Extension
The hardiness of grape buds and wood ranges widely among cultivars and different antecedent weather and physiological conditions. Any estimate of cold hardiness needs to be considered as specific to either the buds or the wood, given the cultivar, under the previous Fall’s conditions for the development of hardiness, given the weather conditions preceding the cold event in question. [Read more…]
