The recent extended period of cloudy weather and high soil moisture may have resulted in certain crops growing rapidly and developing a thinner than “normal” wax layer, called the cuticle, on the leaves. This thinner cuticle is more easily penetrated by postemergence herbicides. Warm temperatures during the cloudy moist period will increase the speed of growth and the thinness of the cuticle. [Read more…]
Archives for June 2014
June 13, 2014 Brad Majek
Weather Increases the Risk of Crop Injury from Herbicides Applied Postemergence
June 13, 2014 Wes Kline and Meredith Melendez
Audit Ready:
On-Farm Food Safety Lessons Learned Series
If you have written your food safety plan and are preparing for a third party audit, the Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety Team offers farm “walk-throughs” to help evaluate your written plan and compliance activities. Over many years of performing walk-throughs, we’ve found some common situations that can foil the goal of making it through the audit process on the first go-round. Take a moment to make sure you’ve handled these areas that have tripped-up fellow NJ growers.
Know the Contents of Your Food Safety Manual
If a grower hires someone to write his or her food safety manual, the grower must know what is in the manual and adhere to the contents! There have been instances when the auditors came to do the audit, that it was obvious the grower did not know what was in their own farm food safety manual.
Know Your Manual
- Sit down with the person developing the manual to make sure there is agreement about what to put in the manual.
- Once the manual has been developed, review each section to clarify and make necessary changes for the final version.
Remember, auditors use the grower’s food safety manual as the basis for the audit. If the grower does not know and understand the contents of their manual, they won’t be able to answer the auditors’ questions.
Have an On-Farm Food Safety question concerning your commercial NJ farm? Email us.
June 13, 2014 Dean Polk, Dave Schmitt, and Atanas Atanassov
Fruit IPM Report June 11, 2014
This week in Fruit IPMOriental Beetle Adult
- Peach
- Apple
- Pear
- Wine Grapes
- Scouting Calendar
- Tree Fruit Trap Counts
- Blueberry
- Blueberry Trap Counts
Click to View | Download PDF
June 12, 2014 A.Wyenandt, W.Kline, and J.Ingerson-Mahar
Potato Disease Forecasting Report 6-13-14
Potato Disease Forecasting Report 6-13-14 – Click to Download
We will be tracking DSVs for Late blight development and calculating P-days for initiating the first early blight fungicide application.
The first late blight fungicide application is recommended once 18 DSVs accumulate from green row. Green row typically occurs around the first week in May in southern New Jersey. An early season application of a protectant fungicide such as mancozeb (Dithane, Manzate, Penncozeb) or Bravo (chlorothalonil) as soon the field is accessible is suggested. Please be vigilant and keep a look out for suspect late blight infections on young plants. No late blight has been reported in our region to date.
Remember the threshold for P-days is 300! Once 300 P-days is reached for your location early blight fungicide applications should be initiated. Growers who are interested in using this model should chose the location above that is closest in proximity to their farming operation and should regularly check the Cornell NEWA website (http://newa.cornell.edu/) where this information is compiled from. Click on Pests Forecasts from the menu, select your weather station, and click on tomato diseases, set accumulation start date and a table of daily and total DSVs will be generated.
June 12, 2014 A.Wyenandt, W.Kline, and J.Ingerson-Mahar
Tomato Disease Forecasting Report 6-13-14
6-13-14 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.
June 11, 2014 Dave Schmitt
Bacterial Spot of Stone Fruit
Over the past 7-10 days it has become clear that a bacterial spot epidemic is underway. It is eerily reminiscent of the epidemic of 1997, although so far it does not appear as widespread or affecting all cultivars as that year. Many blocks are dropping leaves this week, and fruit lesions are beginning to appear. Remember that it takes about a week for leaf infections to appear, and about 2 weeks for those infected leaves to start dropping. It takes about 3 weeks for those same infections to show up on the fruit. Looking back at weather records over at CoCoRaHs (choose your dates and local observations) it appears that the severe winds of May 23, and the rains over the weeks that followed set up a conducive environment for the bacteria in southern counties. We are seeing leaf drop in many locations regardless of treatment. The coming week will tell the story of how much fruit infection there is. [Read more…]
