Archives for December 2020

Sweet Basil Virtual Workshop This Thursday and Friday

Sweet basil infected with basil downy mildew.

Managing Basil Under Increasingly Challenging Conditions, a virtual workshop, will be held this Thursday, Dec. 10, and Friday, Dec. 11. Hosted by University of Massachusetts in collaboration with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and the University of Florida as part of our USDA/SCRI/NIFA supported Sweet Basil Research Initiative, with Drs. Jim Simon and Andy Wyenandt of Rutgers co-coordinating the educational program for growers, Extension workers, researchers and industry reps.

The virtual sessions will be on the Zoom platform. Links and other means of connecting will be shared in another post before the meeting begins after you register here <https://forms.gle/iofJ79idzyG3j48ZA>.

Click here to view the updated agenda. All meeting times are Eastern Standard Time running 9:00am to 5:15pm on Dec. 10, and 9:00am to 12:30pm on Dec. 11. Feel free to join in or leave at any time to learn about the topics that interest you.

A Primer on Dormant Oil Applications

Dormant Oil Guidelines:

Dormant oils at 2-4% rates in the late fall & late winter seasons can aid in the control of overwintering insects and insect eggs. Consider treating for such pests as aphids (eggs), southern red mites/eggs, spruce spider mites/eggs, oak spider mites (eggs), eriophyid mites/eggs, spruce gall adelgids, lace bugs (deciduous plants), cankerworms (eggs), leaftiers, psyllids, plant bugs, etc.

Some landscapers have been successful applying both late fall and early spring dormant oil treatments to the same plants on the same properties. This is a reasonable approach since a single dormant oil treatment will not provide 100% control and it gives the field technician another opportunity to monitor the landscape for problems.

Dormant oil sprays require excellent coverage & often repeat applications. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

Japanese maple scale infested branch will likely require multiple dormant oil treatments to suppress. (Photo Credit: Steven K. Rettke, Rutgers Coop. Ext.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Read more…]