Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Blackleg is caused by Erwinia spp. which also cause ‘soft rots’. The bacteria which lead to the aerial phase of Blackleg are soil-borne (originate from old crop debris) and spread by rainfall, overhead irrigation and wind. [Read more…]
Angular leaf spot is common in New Jersey and the region. It often shows up during cool, wet weather and isolated rain.
Symptoms of angular leaf spot in cucurbit.
Angular leaf spot of pumpkin. Note leaf ‘shot holes’.
Angular leaf spot will first appear as, small water-soaked lesions which will expand until they reach a larger leaf vein resulting in the angular looking symptoms on leaves. Under heavy disease pressure, the bacteria will infect fruit causing small, water-soaked circular spots. In many cases once weather conditions become dry again, infected tissue in leaves will die and fall out leaving the characteristic ‘shot hole’ symptoms. Control of angular leaf spot begins with the application of labeled rates of fixed copper plus mancozeb to help suppress the spread of the disease until hot, dry weather returns.
With the wet weather, conditions for the crown rot phase of Phytophthora blight have increased. Phytophthora blight typically develops in low-lying areas of fields after a heavy rain and can spread quickly throughout the entire field. Planting on a ridge or raised, dome-shaped bed will help provide better soil drainage. [Read more…]
Severe hail damage on pepper transplants.
Now that the weather is beginning to cooperate and temperatures are warming up, be cautious about sunscald developing on the stems of transplants, especially those being set onto black plastic mulch. With a little planning ahead potential losses to sunscald injury can reduced significantly.
Sunscald injury on stems of newly transplanted pepper seedlings caused by stems laying against edges of black plastic mulch on hot, sunny days.
Sunscald typically appears as the slow bleaching out of the stem that will typically appear only on one side. Often this starts to appear right where the stem meets the black plastic mulch. In many cases if the stem is touching the mulch, the sunburn will start there and the transplant will begin to fall over as if the stem was broken.
When transplanting, make sure the holes in the plastic are wide enough to keep the stem from coming into contact with it. In some cases growers will fill in the transplant hole with soil to help keep the transplant upright before between-row herbicides are applied. ‘Leggy’ transplants that lay across plastic mulch and even those transplanted onto bare ground are prone to sunscald injury.
The 2014 Potato and Tomato Reports are now available! Just scroll over the Vegetable Crops tab on the Plant and Pest Advisory homepage and links for each report will appear.
Like in years past, both reports will be updated twice a week for those interested in timing their fungicide applications according to Tom-Cast and Blightcast from NEWA information. Real-time updates can also be obtained by going directly to the NEWA site, selecting the nearest weather station to your farm operation, and clicking on the appropriate model. It is that simple! As always, should Late Blight appear in our region sometime this season a PPA Alert will be sent out to those signed up.
