Archives for March 2015

NJ Crop Insurance News Reminder

Apr 11: corn earliest planting date

Created to inform New Jersey ag producers about crop insurance, the Garden State Crop Insurance Education Initiative Team makes available important information through multiple media outlets. Get the latest news by visiting the website or follow via blog, Facebook, or Twitter.

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Don’t Get Them ‘Angry’: Insecticide Resistance in AWB

The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) is an insect that can get very ‘angry’: insecticide resistant that is. Surveys have indicated that resistance in this insect is wide spread. Dealing with insecticide resistant ABW can quickly become a nightmare. The best thing to do, if you still can, is to not get the weevils ‘angry’ in the first place. Once they are resistant, there may be no feasible way of getting them susceptible again. There are no silver bullets out there and none in development.

Annual Bluegrass Weevil Adult

Annual Bluegrass Weevil Adult

Annual Bluegrass Weevil Larvae

Annual Bluegrass Weevil Larvae

Resistance is Sneaky

I estimate that any golf course that has tried to intensively control ABW for at least 5 years will have some level of insecticide resistance. With intensively I mean multiple applications per year over large proportions of the golf course. Resistance tends to sneak up on people. First there are some small problems here and there that will be excused by ‘missing spots’, ‘timing off’, ‘poor weather conditions’, etc. Unfortunately, the typical reaction is to ratchet up the spraying activity. [Read more…]

Wine Grape IPM School: March 31

Date: March 31, 2015
Location: RAREC, 121 Northville Road, Bridgeton, NJ 08302
 
Wine Grape IPM Flyer

Rutgers University and the NJ Center for Wine Research and Education will be hosting a “Grape IPM School” on March 31st in Bridgeton, NJ. Experts from Michigan, Virginia and Ohio will be joining Rutgers to share their knowledge about key insect pests, diseases and weed identification. This workshop is aimed at growers of all experience levels.

Please pre-register (856-455-3100 or bradbury@aesop.rutgers.edu)
Space is limited. See attached flyer for details.

Grape IPM School Flyer

Winterkill on Annual Bluegrass: Don’t Skip the K

We lost the ice cover on our Poa annua trials two weekends ago (March 7-8th) and initially the turf looked okay. But now… it doesn’t. And it will probably get worse, if we are reading the symptoms correctly.

Last Friday (March 13), my graduate student, Chas Schmid, informed me that I needed to look at his potassium trial on our Poa annua turf. There was a huge difference between no‑K and K fertilized plots. The no-K plots have steadily lost green color and become very blotchy. Plants taken from those plots are water-soaked and feel mushy when squeezed (How is that for a scientific description?). Dr. Lindsay Hoffman has a lot of experience with winterkill on Poa annua in Massachusetts and she is convinced that many of the plants are dead. And it smells like it – silage on a dairy farm!

Poa annua trials

Blotchy, tan-colored plots and borders around this potassium trial are suffering from winterkill. Green, healthier looking turf received K fertilization; dying turf did not.
(15 March 2015)

Take home for me – don’t let your Poa annua turf become potassium deficient! Chas’ data for suppressing anthracnose severity indicates that a soil test (Mehlich 3) ≥50 ppm K and a tissue level of ≥2% K in the clippings are indicators that the K level is good. And winterkill in March 2015 hasn’t changed my mind about that data!

Looks like this might be the end of this Poa annua field. Dr. William Meyer said, “Good riddance.”

Traffic Alert: Damage Threat is High

Damage to landscapes from traffic can be severe during winter and especially now during the thaw. Soil conditions currently range from being frozen to partially thawed/frozen to thawed.

Partially frozen soil will be thawed and very wet at the surface while being frozen at some depth below. Under this condition, soil and turf will be extremely vulnerable to shearing and rutting damage. Traffic, even light foot traffic, must be withheld when this condition exists otherwise severe rutting (soil displacement) will occur.

Severe rut caused by a wheeled vehicle driving on partially thawed soil.

Severe rut caused by a wheeled vehicle driving on partially thawed soil.

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Impact of FSMA in the MidAtlantic

Want to better understand how the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will impact your farm?  On Monday, March 23rd the New Jersey and Delaware Departments of Agriculture will host an informative meeting at the Rutgers EcoComplex.

Monday, March 23, 2015 9:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Rutgers EcoComplex, 1200 Florence-Columbus Road, Columbus
RSVP: Jeff Beach Jeffrey.beach@ag.state.nj.us or 609-439-2038

FSMA