Christmas Trees Edition
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Seasonal pest alerts and news about insects, diseases, and weeds impacting Christmas Tree production including Commercial Ag Updates (meetings and marketing); and Pesticide Program updates from the Rutgers Pest Management Office News Blog.
Companion Website Links:
Rutgers Weather Forecasting - Meteorological Information important to commercial agriculture.
June 13, 2025 Claudia Gil Arroyo
Agritourism Marketing Survey
WVU Extension and other colleagues are trying to understand how we can better help you with your Agritourism Marketing. It will tremendously help us to help you in the future.
Please take a few minutes (at most 5 minutes) to answer the questions here: https://s.uconn.edu/agritourism-marketing
Ornamental IPM 5/13 Recording Upload – NUMEROUS PEST ALERTS
Still time to Sign up for the 2025 – Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program
(Join us for the next Session Tuesday 5/27/25)
PREVIOUS SESSION: (contains information on boxwood pests, armored scales, needlecast diseases, oomycetes )
Note we have clearwing borer lures and wing or delta traps, scale crawler tape, and yellow sticky cards available to commercial grower program members at our Cumberland (twaller@njaes.rutgers.edu) and Monmouth (william.errickson@njaes.rutgers.edu) RCE offices.
ALERTS:
- Scale crawler emergence throughout the state
- Spruce spider mite activity and damage
- Boxwood Blight Risk Model for next 7days
- Bronze Birch Borer (BBB) approaching adult emergence
- Clearwing Borer adult flight – time to monitor / treat
- Red-headed flea beetle (RHFB) egg hatch – adult emergence
- Oomycete material considerations
Previous webinars:
- Click here for a PDF of April 22, 2025 webinar (contains information on RHFB and early Clearwing borer treatments) Click here for VIDEO of April 22, 2025 webinar
- Click here for a PDF of April 08, 2025 webinar (Contains information on aphids and boxwood leafminer) Click here for VIDEO of April 08, 2025 webinar
(click the ‘Read More’ below for complete dates in S-C-Northern NJ per pest)
May 12, 2025 Tim Waller
Ornamental IPM – Blight and pest alerts – next IPM Session 5/13/25
- Serious potential for Boxwood Blight
- Bronze Birch Borer (BBB) approaching adult emergence
- Clearwing Borer adult flight – time to monitor
- Red-headed flea beetle (RHFB) egg hatch – adult emergence soon
- Oomycete material considerations
- (click the ‘Read More’ below for complete dates in S-C-Northern NJ per pest)
Still time to Sign up for the 2025 – Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program
(Join us for the next Session Tuesday 5/13/25)
Note we have Clearwing borer lures and wing or delta traps, scale crawler tape, and yellow sticky cards available to commercial grower program members at our Cumberland (twaller@njaes.rutgers.edu) and Monmouth (william.errickson@njaes.rutgers.edu) RCE offices.
- Click here for a PDF of April 22, 2025 webinar (contains information on RHFB and early Clearwing borer treatments) Click here for VIDEO of April 22, 2025 webinar
- Click here for a PDF of April 08, 2025 webinar (Contains information on aphids and boxwood leafminer) Click here for VIDEO of April 08, 2025 webinar
May 5, 2025 Thierry Besancon
Survey: Novel Weed Management Strategies for Perennial Crop Systems
Take a Quick Survey Regarding your Needs for Novel Weed Management in Perennial Crops!
Dr. Thierry E. Besançon, Associate Extension Weed Science Specialist, Rutgers University
Our interdisciplinary team of weed scientists and sociologists is conducting research under a Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant to understand perennial crop growers’ priorities regarding novel weed control technologies. This survey aims to identify drivers and barriers to implementing robotic weeding systems in your operations.
We seek to understand your:
- Perspectives on robotic technologies for weed management
- Specific needs and challenges in weed control
- Preferences and limitations when considering new technology adoption
This anonymous, voluntary survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. All information collected will be used solely to inform future research questions and outreach activities, and will not be published or distributed. This Friday, May 9th, will be the final day of the survey!
Your participation is invaluable to future developments in the industry regarding new technologies for weed management. We need more inputs from New Jersey perennial crops growers so that they have a say on the direction that weed science research will take in the future!
To contribute, scan the QR code or visit: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eqzMrFKtlcDjjgO
If you have questions, comments or concerns contact Dr. Thierry Besançon at thierry.besancon@rutgers.edu.
Ornamental, including Christmas Tree – IPM Updates (Week of 5/1)
Some important actual and anticipated pest emergences as of 5/1/25
- Boxwood leaf miner emergence in southern NJ – monitor locations now.
- Crapemyrtle aphid appearance in southern NJ
- Bronze Birch Borer (BBB) approaching adult emergence
- Red-headed flea beetle (RHFB) egg hatch – adult treatment with systemic applications
- Clearwing Borer adult flight – time to monitor
- Conifer scale crawler emergence anticipated
- (click the ‘Read More’ below for complete dates in S-C-Northern NJ per pest)
