If you are aware of any fields in the southern portion of the state (particularly in Salem, Cumberland and Cape May) that has kudzu please contact me by e-mail @ bamka@njaes.rutgers.edu.

As you may have heard the kudzu bug is knocking on New Jersey’s door. In July of 2013 the kudzu bug was found in Sussex County Delaware, just a relatively small trip across the Delaware Bay from New Jersey. This rather new pest is something our soybean industry needs to keep a watchful eye on. You may have read in different farming publications about the presence of bean platasipid (Megacopta cribraria) or more commonly the kudzu bug in the southeastern US. It is referred to as the kudzu bug because it has a tendency to feed on kudzu. Feeding on kudzu has not been viewed as a bad thing in the south. However, in the southeastern US kudzu bug has become a concern because it is also a pest of soybeans.

The NJDA could use your help in tracking the potential presence of Kudzu bug in the state. [Read more…]

Commercial Growers, Crop Consultants, and Ag Industry personnel
are invited to attend a RCE Field Crop Twilight Meeting

Date: Sep 10th, 5PM – Dusk
Location: Rutgers Snyder Research and Extension Farm, Pittstown, NJ
Please RSVP by 9/6/13 to (908) 788-1339

Dinner 5:00PM
Wagon Tour:
Stop 1: 67 Full season soybean varieties; evaluating soybean resistance to white mold
Stop 2: Double crop soybean variety trial following canola evaluating 65 soybean varieties resistance to white mold
Stop 3: Field corn variety study evaluating different fertilizer treatments
Stop 4: Field corn trial comparing different liming agents
Stop 5: Irrigation pond management
Stop 6: Agronomic production issues for corn mazes

Commercial Growers, Crop Consultants, and Ag Industry personnel
are invited to attend a RCE Field Crop Twilight Meeting

Date: Sep 10th, 5PM – Dusk
Location: Rutgers Snyder Research and Extension Farm, Pittstown, NJ
Please RSVP by 9/6/13 to (908) 788-1339

Dinner 5:00PM
Wagon Tour:
Stop 1: 67 Full season soybean varieties; evaluating soybean resistance to white mold
Stop 2: Double crop soybean variety trial following canola evaluating 65 soybean varieties resistance to white mold
Stop 3: Field corn variety study evaluating different fertilizer treatments
Stop 4: Field corn trial comparing different liming agents
Stop 5: Irrigation pond management
Stop 6: Agronomic production issues for corn mazes

You may have read in different farming publications about the presence of bean platasipid (Megacopta cribraria), or more commonly the kudzu bug, in the southeastern US.
It is referred to as the kudzu bug because it has a tendency to feed on kudzu. This is not necessarily a bad thing in the south where kudzu is an exotic invasive species.

In the southeastern US kudzu bug has become a concern because it is also a pest of soybeans. This stink bug species is smaller than brown marmorated stink bug and has a different shape. Like brown marmorated stink bug it also can overwinter in homes.

This stink bug species was discovered in Georgia in 2009 and has since spread through out the southeast and is heading north. The kudzu bug has most recently been found in Sussex County Delaware. It has also been found in Maryland in Prince George, Charles, Calvert, and Anne Arundel counties. As kudzu bug is a soybean pest we need to keep a watchful eye for it here in New Jersey.

Over the past few days I have received several reports of large grasshopper populations in several soybean fields.

Initially, grasshoppers tend to occur along field edges and areas near drainage ditches. No economic damage has been reported due to grasshoppers yet, but consider this an early warning to scout fields. There are no good thresholds established for grasshoppers in corn or soybeans. Generally, consider treatment in pre-bloom soybeans if grasshoppers are present and 40% or more defoliation is encountered. When in the pod forming and pod filling stages treatment is recommended with 20% or more defoliation.

We spent a fair amount of time scouting wheat fields for cereal leaf beetles earlier in the season. Now it is time to focus attention on adjacent corn fields.

The adult cereal leaf beetles can now be found in adjacent corn fields. They are primarily found on the perimeter of the corn fields. Though I have encountered them throughout some corn fields. Adult cereal leaf beetle damage appears as longitudinal slits between the leaf veins. Corn plants usually outgrow the injury. Unlike larval damage in wheat, there are no firm thresholds for adult damage in corn. One threshold suggests treatment when 10 or more adults are found per plant and 50% of plants show feeding damage.