Kathy Demchak, Senior Extension Associate, from Penn State University and Dr. Mengjun Hu, Small Fruit Pathologist, from the University of Maryland have published an excellent article on disease management recommendations for fall planted strawberry plugs. Please click here for more information.
Fruit Crops Edition
Seasonal updates on diseases, insects, weeds impacting tree fruit and small fruit (blueberry, cranberry, and wine grape). Fruit Pest Alerts are also available via this category feed.
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September 2, 2021 Kate Brown
National Farm Safety and Health Week: September 19-25, 2021
NFSHW webinars to be held 9/20-9/24/2021. Click here to register.
September precedes one of the busiest and most dangerous seasons of the year in agriculture – fall harvest time. For this reason, National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW) is recognized annually during the third week of September. The theme this year is “Farm Safety Yields Real Results”.
AgriSafe will host two FREE webinars each day during NFSHW to highlight new technology, discuss incident prevention, and inform your decision-making and conversations. The webinars will feature discussion on each of the daily topics. Visit The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety website to register (scroll down to ‘Webinars’). Note that the webinar times are posted for Central Daylight Time.
Take an active role in keeping yourself and others safe this harvest season. Plan to join in on a webinar, encourage others to do the same, and take to social media to spread the message: “Farm Safety Yields Real Results”. Stay tuned to the Rutgers Agriculture and Natural Resources Facebook page for content to share each day during NFSHW!
September 2, 2021 Hemant Gohil
Grower and Winemaker Town Hall: Questions from the Field and Cellar
Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum has planned a virtual meeting on September 7th @ 3:00 PM ET. Here, regional viticulture and enology specialists will present a Grower and Winemaker Town Hall virtual meeting series to give seasonal updates and answer pre-submitted and live questions from grape and wine industry stakeholders.
The structure of these meetings depends on pre-submitted questions. Please email Hemant Gohil at gohil@njaes.rutgers.edu if you have any question. Please see below for the topic area suggestions for the September 7th meeting. [Read more…]
September 2, 2021 Meredith Melendez
Food Safety for Flooded Farms
Flood waters can carry microbial and chemical contaminants that can be harmful to humans. Food crops should be assessed to determine if they have been affected by flooding surface water sources including rivers, lakes, or streams. These waters are the highest risk for contaminants. The biggest question to ask is has the edible portion of the crop been exposed to these waters? There is no way to ensure that food crops that have come in contact with contaminated flood waters are safe to eat. Food crops that have been exposed to flood waters should be destroyed so they do not enter market channels. For more information and guidance on how to handle crops and fields that have been flooded visit the Produce Safety Alliance Food Safety for Flooded Farms resource.
September 1, 2021 William Errickson
New Jersey Department of Agriculture Expands Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Zone
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher announced the Department has added five counties to the spotted lanternfly quarantine zone. The counties new to the list are Morris, Monmouth, Middlesex, Essex, and Union. They join the previously announced quarantine counties of Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Salem, Somerset, and Warren.
Business entities that routinely travel in and out of the quarantine area are required to take, and pass, free training regarding the spotted lanternfly at https://bit.ly/3mDGv2d. Those businesses that interact exclusively in New Jersey’s quarantine zone must comply with the details outlined in the quarantine order. The quarantine also allows access to property for Department, USDA, or USDA contracted agents where the spotted lanternfly is suspected or confirmed so that the property can be evaluated and treated, if necessary.
The full press release from NJDA can be found at: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/news/press/2021/approved/press210830.html
For additional information on spotted lanternfly, visit:
Rutgers NJAES Spotted Lanternfly Website https://njaes.rutgers.edu/spotted-lanternfly/
NJDA Spotted Lanternfly Business Resources Website: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/pests-diseases/spotted-lanternfly/business-resources/
August 31, 2021 Megan Muehlbauer
New Jersey Weekly Apple Maturity Review Website is LIVE!
A new Rutgers University website has just been launched, which provides weekly reports on the progression of apple maturity in Northern and Central New Jersey. The data in these reports is intended to aid New Jersey apple growers in deciding the optimal time to harvest apples in their commercial orchards. Please check out the website (see link below) and be sure to subscribe to receive the weekly reports in your inbox!
https://njapplematurity.rutgers.edu/
