Archives for May 2015

May 8, 2015 Richard Buckley

Take(-all) it to the Limit

A sample diagnosed with take-all patch of creeping bentgrass was the highlight of the turfgrass submissions to the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory this week. This sample marks the first in the seasonal transition on golf courses from diseases common to late-winter and early-spring (snow molds/yellow patch) to the late-spring and early-summer problems (take-all/brown ring patch). Yes, it was an exciting day for the turfgrass pathologist!

Take all disease on plug of L-93 creeping bentgrass. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

Take-all patch on a plug of ‘L-93’ creeping bentgrass. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

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Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Plant Diagnostic Lab, Turf Tagged With: take-all

May 7, 2015 Dean Polk

Fruit IPM Report 5-7-2015

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Peach

Thrips including western flower thrips: Thrips are being found in southern peach and nectarine blocks. This is common in years when we have warm dry weather during and shortly after bloom. Delegate is the best material to use, followed by Lannate. Entrust can also be used but will be more expensive. Both Delegate and Lannate will control OFM, but neither does a good job on PC. Closer is labeled for thrips suppression, but it’s use is discouraged if high thrips populations are present.

Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM): As of 5/7 we have accumulated 229 DD in southern counties. In northern counties the biofix was set for 4/28. We have had 140 DD accumulate since then. The first of two applications for OFM should be going on now in southern counties, and about 5/10-12 in northern counties (using Snyder Farm as our degree day point).
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Filed Under: Blueberry, Tree Fruit

May 7, 2015 Wes Kline and Meredith Melendez

Audit Ready: Unannounced Verification Visits Are Coming

Growers who schedule a USDA GAP or Harmonized audit this year should be prepared for an unannounced verification visit later in the growing season.

These unannounced visits have been talked about during our educational sessions, but have mostly not happened due to a lack of auditors in the state. The NJ Department of Agriculture Commodity Inspection and Grading Division now has enough staff to conduct these unannounced visits.

Unannounced visits will take place after the initial scheduled audit is completed. These visits are used to verify that the farm is consistent with the written requirements of the food safety plan and the USDA audit requirements. You cannot schedule these visits and you will not know specifically when the auditor will arrive to perform the audit. The auditor may ask to see documentation during this visit, but will mostly focus on conformance to audit standards and your food safety plan through visual inspection.

Filed Under: Food Safety

May 6, 2015 Dave Schmitt

Of Thrips and Aphids

Ocassionally, flower thrips can be an early season pest of peach and nectarine, especially when conditions during bloom are hot and dry. That seems to be the case this season as 6 out of 7 nectarine blocks scouted in Gloucester County had low populations of thrips present. At least one block had low levels of injury present. Mostly adults were found but examinations of fruitlets found some nymphs present in the shucks. If left untreated, damage can occur unless conditions turn cool and wet. Growers can scout for thrips using beating trays to look for adults, or by collecting blossoms to look for nymphs feeding inside the shucks. Peach may be less susceptible to damage than nectarine because the fuzz acts as a deterrent. Growers should also look for aphid populations while scouting for thrips as aphids are just starting to appear in southern county orchards. Use a treatment threshold of 1 aphid colony per tree in nectarines and 2-4 colonies per tree in peach.

There aren’t many choices for thrips control in Nectarines. Delegate and Entrust at the high rates are very effective. Where aphids are also present, the neonicitinoids Actara and Closer will control aphids but may only suppress thrips. Lannate SP has a good rating for thrips and aphids in our production guide but field experience is variable. Carzol is no longer labeled for Peach and Nectarine.

Remember also that Oriental Fruit Moth, Plum Curculio, and native plant bugs are key pests at this timing so any insecticides applied for thrips and/or aphids will be in addition to applications of effective materials for these important pests.

Filed Under: Tree Fruit

May 5, 2015 Hemant Gohil

Performing a Detailed Inspection of Wine Grape Planting Material

Figure 1. A bundle of healthy grafted grape vines. These vines are moist, have healthy roots, and are clearly labeled.

Spring is a good time to plant new grapevines as the soil is warm and moist enough to support early growth and vines get plenty of time to get established during the growing season that follows. When your order of vines arrives, make sure that your planting material is of good quality before it is planted.

Source Planting Materials from Quality Nurseries

The best way to begin ensuring that you have good, healthy and productive grapevines is to source planting material from nurseries that provide clean materials or certified vines. Planting material from nurseries that follow quality assurance protocols reduces the chances of getting diseased or weak planting material.
Certified material means cuttings come from a source block that was properly managed, subjected to regular inspections for insect pests, disease damage, and tested for virus right from propagation through packaging. These nurseries also go through independent third party audits.

Make sure that planting material comes with documents or labels that will help in tracing plants back to the original source. Each bundle of vines should have proper labels describing primary information such as variety, clone, rootstock and some kind of batch number. Make sure your planting material was shipped promptly after packing and came in a temperature-controlled vehicle. Presently there are no certified nurseries in New Jersey; however, there are several certified nurseries available in California and few in Oregon, Washington and New York. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Wine Grape

May 5, 2015 Jim Murphy

Kyllinga Awakens as Soil Temps Increase

Daily high soil temperatures at the 2-inch depth are consistently getting into the 60s°F. Yesterday, temperatures in sunny locations reached into the upper 60s. This means that the warm-season species are, or will be soon waking from winter slumber.

Leaf tips emerging from rhizomes of kyllinga on 15 April 2015 in central New Jersey.

Emerging shoots of kyllinga beginning the process of re-forming a “turf” canopy on 2 May 2015 in East Brunswick.