Andy Wyenandt

This is an archive of Dr. Wyenandt's posts on the Plant and Pest Advisory.

April 4, 2014 and

Veg ICM Twilight Meeting Apr 22, 2014

Vegetable Integrated Crop Management Twilight Meeting
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Location: East Vineland Fire Hall, Landis Ave. across from the Savoy Restaurant
(park behind the building and enter conference room door in rear)

The Rutgers Cooperative Extension Agricultural Agents of Atlantic, Cumberland and Gloucester Counties invite you to the first twilight meeting of the 2014 season to discuss early spring crop pest control, label updates and management topics. Feel free to bring plant, insect, disease, or weed samples to the meeting to have them identified, or perhaps you can stump the experts. Please bring samples in sealed plastic bags. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Vegetable Crops
March 21, 2014

Organic Production: Suppressing Soil-borne Pathogens

Pathogens such as Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, Thielaviopsis and Rhizoctonia that cause pre- and post-emergent damping-off can cause serious problems in organic (and conventional) transplant production.
The key to controlling and/or suppressing damping-off pathogens with biological controls is keeping the biological populations high and continually present on root surfaces of the host, and by following good cultural practices. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , ,
March 18, 2014

Bacterial Leaf Spot Update

Last summer a pepper differential trial was done near Vineland, NJ to help determine if new races of bacterial leaf spot (BLS) were present in the area. At least 11 races of BLS have been identified to date.

…look at ways to detect the presence of BLS susceptibility on your farm. Run your own internal “tests”: plant a few cultivars with known BLS resistance and take note which ones develop symptoms. Be ready to adopt cultivars with a larger BLS resistance package.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops Tagged With: ,
March 17, 2014

Understanding Damping-off Pathogens

Damping-off is caused by a number of important vegetable pathogens and is very common during transplant production and early-spring. Damping-off can kill seedlings before they break the soil line (pre-emergent damping-off) or kill seedlings soon after they emerge (post-emergent damping-off). Common pathogens that cause damping-off include Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium spp.

It is extremely important to know which pathogen is causing the damping-off problem and which fungicide to properly apply.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops Tagged With:
March 12, 2014

Vegetable Production Recommendations and Organic Practices

Growers who chose to farm under organic conditions can find valuable information on cultural practices, variety recommendations, alternative pest management methods, and NOP approved products in the 2014 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide.

Note that people who apply pesticides for the purpose of raising an agricultural commodity, including organic farmers, need to be licensed as a Private Pesticide Applicator. Small/Organic Farms Private Pesticide Applicator Training is being held April 9, 2014 in Mercer County.

The 2014 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide is published annually and is now available for free download. Between publications, updates to the guide can be found here on the Plant & Pest Advisory.

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops Tagged With:
March 12, 2014

Greenhouse Seed Treatment, Selected Fungicides, and Bactericides Updates

Hot Water Seed Treatment Photo: Meg McGrath, Cornell

Hot Water Seed Treatment
Photo: Meg McGrath

All seed used in transplant production, as well as any transplants brought into the greenhouse should be certified ‘clean’ or disease-free.

Seed Treatment

Important diseases such as Bacterial leaf spot of tomato and pepper can cause major problems in transplant production if introduced into the greenhouse. Bacterial leaf spot of tomato and pepper can be seed-borne and infested seed can be a major source of inoculum in the greenhouse and cause problems in the field later in the growing season. As a rule for any crop, any non-certified or untreated seed should be treated, if applicable, with a Clorox treatment, or hot-water seed treatment, or dusted to help minimize bacterial or damping-off diseases. For more information on seed treatments for specific crops please see Table E-14 on page E45 in Section E of the 2014 New Jersey Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide.

Selected Organic and Conventional Fungicides, Bactericides

An updated table for selected organic and conventional fungicides and bactericides labeled for greenhouse use is available in Section E of the 2014 New Jersey Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide. The table includes a comprehensive list of fungicides and biological agents approved for greenhouse use. Table E-15 can be found on pages E46-48.

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops