When: May 20 (Wed) 5:00 PM Where: Saddlehill Winery and Vineyards: 1407 White Horse Rd, Voorhees Township, NJ 08043 Credits: CORE; PP2; 1A; 10 5:00 pm Welcome and Updates Bill Green, Owner, Saddlehill Winery Hemant Gohil, Gloucester County Extension Agent, Rutgers NJAES Drone in Vineyard Applications – Demonstration What Should You Know to Legally Fly Drones in Agricultural Applications? Nathan Graham, UAV/Drone Specialist, Hoober Inc., PA. Field Observations from the Wine Grape IPM Pilot Program Janine Spies, Statewide Fruit IPM Program Leader, Rutgers NJAES. Insect Pest Management in the Vineyard Anne Nielsen, Extension Specialist in Fruit Entomology, Rutgers NJAES. Timing, Chemistry, Coverage: The Formula for Effective Disease Control Nancy Sharma, Extension Specialist, Fruit Pathology, Rutgers NJAES. Weed Management Updates for Vineyard Thierry Besancon, Extension Specialist, Weed Science, Rutgers NJAES. Pesticide recertification credits and adjourn. Light fare will be provided. If you plan to attend, please email Joan Medany at jmedany@co.gloucester.nj.us or call 856-224-8030. For additional assistance, please contact Hemant Gohil at 856-224-8029 before the meeting. [Read more...]
Fruit Crops Edition - Wine Grape Section
Seasonal updates on diseases, insects, weeds impacting small fruit (blueberry, cranberry, and wine grape). Fruit Pest Alerts are also available via this category feed.
Subscription is through the general Fruit feed available via EMAIL and RSS.
April 27, 2026 Hemant Gohil
South Jersey Wine Grape Twilight
April 20, 2026 Hemant Gohil
NJ DEP issues Controlled Open Burn Permit from April 18, through Wednesday April 22.
(TRENTON) – With the state expected to experience cooler spring temperatures, the Department of Environmental Protection has agreed with NJDA Secretary Ed Wengryn’s request to allow farmers to do controlled open burning or use specialized torches known as smudge pots to protect flowering crops from damage beginning Saturday, April 18, through Wednesday, April 22. Temperatures are expected to drop to the 30s or below this week with varying winds through portions of the state. These expected temperatures follow warm temperatures in recent days. Damage from freezing weather now can significantly reduce yields of certain fruits and vegetables that are in the flowering stage.
The DEP and the Department of Agriculture are allowing these steps to protect farmers’ livelihoods and ensure that consumers can enjoy an ample supply of Jersey produce later this year. The DEP intends to exercise its authority and discretion under the Air Pollution Control Code, N.J.A.C. 7:27, et seq., and other applicable authorities to permit the following procedure for open burning or the use of smudge pots to assist farmers in protecting their crops in low temperatures. Farmers who believe they will need to conduct open burns and/or use smudge pots must provide notice to the DEP’s 24-hour Communications Center at 1-877- WARNDEP (1-877-927-6337). Notification to DEP does not require implementing either technique, but it ensures proper procedures are followed should they become necessary. If a farmer does not call DEP in advance but uses either technique, the farmer must notify DEP by 9 a.m. the following day. The farmer will be asked which technique was used. Farmers must record the incident number provided to them by the Communications Center. The following information is to be provided:
Name of the individual making the decision to conduct the open burning/use of smudge pots and name of the farm.
- Actual street address of the farm on which either technique will be used (no P.O. Boxes).
- Telephone number of a contact at the farm.
- Predicted temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) at the agricultural operation when the technique will be used.
- Wind speed anticipated when the technique will be used.
- Predicted hours of open burning and/or use of smudge pots.
- Materials expected to be burned.
- At the time of the initial call to the Communications Center, farmers will be given an email address and incident number.
Within two days, they must submit to DEP via this email address the following information:
- The DEP Communications Center incident number.
- Ambient temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) at the time the technique was used.
- Actual wind speed at the orchard at the time the technique was used.
- A statement verifying that all restrictions in the open burning or use of smudge pots were followed.
- The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Forest Fire Service caution all farmers and agriculture businesses with respect to the use of open burning in high wind velocity conditions. Please take note that farmers are encouraged to utilize smudge pots for warming as necessary during higher wind conditions. Use of open burning when wind velocity is greater than 5 mph is strictly prohibited, may contribute to wildfire risk, and can carry significant penalties.
- Smudge pots must be fueled only with either kerosene or No. 2 fuel oil.
- Open burning can consist only of either the following materials: clean and untreated scrap lumber, felled trees, clippings pruned from trees and shrubs, hedgerows, or firewood. Absolutely no refuse, trade waste, tires or garbage of any type may be added to the authorized open burning material.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Forest Fire Service caution all farmers and agriculture businesses with respect to the use of open burning in high wind velocity conditions. Please take note that farmers are encouraged to utilize smudge pots for warming as necessary during higher wind conditions. Use of open burning when wind velocity is greater than 5 mph is strictly prohibited, may contribute to wildfire risk, and can carry significant penalties.
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The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA), established in 1916, serves New Jersey’s agricultural community and residents through a wide range of programs across its divisions that ensure the preservation and continuation of the state’s agricultural landscape. NJDA works to ensure the safety and quality of New Jersey’s food supply, protect animal and plant health, and promote the overall long‑term viability of agriculture. The Department also connects consumers with New Jersey’s farmers and locally grown products while supporting the state’s diverse agricultural industry through initiatives of the Jersey Fresh program.
For more information about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial; on Instagram @njdeptofagriculture; on X/Twitter @NJDA and @JerseyFreshNJDA; and on LinkedIn at New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
April 16, 2026 Kate Brown
Farm Safety Needs Assessment Closing May 1
The Rutgers Farm Health and Safety Working Group is conducting a survey to evaluate the priority needs of New Jersey farmers for training and resource development related to safety and health. As a New Jersey farmer, you are invited to complete this survey by Friday, May 1, 2026. Click here to access the survey and learn more. [Read more…]
April 10, 2026 Hemant Gohil
Assessing the Severity of Frost Damage to Peach and Apple Flower Buds
Figure 1. The brown and shrunken pistil (L) indicates the flower is dead; a green and upright pistil indicates that the flower is alive. Photo by H. Gohil.
The below-freezing temperatures on Wednesday (4/8/26) and Thursday (4/9/26) early mornings are likely to cause frost damage in several peach and a few apple orchards in New Jersey. It got down to 25°F–28°F in Southern NJ, and 22°F -27°F in Central and Northern NJ, and those temperatures could have killed vulnerable blossoms. The night of April 8th saw wind speeds above 10 mph, which mixed the cold air at the bottom with the warm air above. This prevented cold-air stratification and reduced the heat loss from the soil surface and plant tissues. The night of April 9th was even colder, and the wind dropped below 5 mph, almost coming to a standstill for a few hours. This causes the rapid loss of thermal energy from the soil and plant tissues. Most unprotected peach and a few apple orchards were affected by these conditions on the night of April 9th. In several parts of New Jersey, peach flower buds were at full bloom, the most susceptible stage to frost (Fig. 1). In Apples, though most orchards were in the tight cluster or earlier stages of bud development, and few varieties were in the first pink. The critical temperatures for 90% bud kill at these stages are 21°F for the tight cluster and 24°F for the first pink; hence, only a few apple orchards in South NJ were vulnerable to significant frost damage (Fig. 2).
Figure 2. Frost damage to Apple bloom at first pink
In Peach, not all flowers bloom at the same time, which makes frost-damage assessment a little more difficult. Often, many flowers look damaged, but they still bear fruit. This estimate can be even more difficult in some varieties, simply because they bloom so much that even 90% damage can yield close to the full crop. The natural tendency is to look for open flowers, which can easily lead to overestimating the damage. The developing flower buds will quickly die once damaged by a freeze. You can’t tell what will happen just by looking at the flower. The browning of flower petals doesn’t mean the ovary is dead.
You can do a quick, destructive assessment of loss by randomly opening 10-20 flowers per tree; do this on 5-10 trees across an acre or block for each variety. This can give a relative estimate of bloom loss. If you take a more systemic approach, you may get more accurate results. Due to cold-air stratification, cold air settles to the bottom, so more buds are damaged at the bottom; therefore, you want to sample from both the upper and lower branches. Sometimes, the loss of flower buds could be as good as natural thinning. So, flower bud loss may not result in a crop loss.
After opening the flower, if the pistil is shrunken and brown, consider it dead; and if completely green, consider it alive (Fig 1). The pistil is sticking out, and you see it is brown; it could have been pollinated and is in the senescence stage. It is not brown because of frost, but it’s brown because of the normal progression of development. In another scenario, the pistil is brown because it has frost damage, but it still may have done its job of pollination. It served its purpose and senescence because both frost and pollination are over. After pollination and fertilization, rapid hormonal changes enhance fruit development and make them slightly more cold-hardy. So even the destructive analysis is a close approximation.
Figure 3. Uneven development of peach due to frost injuries, represented by very small ripe fruits in PF Flamin Fury 24 (Left) and Silverglo (right), and a significant number of green unripe fruits in Lady Nancy (middle). Photo by H. Gohil.
If frost occurs at the shuck-split or shuck-off stage, the seed/pit will be damaged. But the fruit looks normal. However, they will not reach full size because the nonviable seed cannot produce the hormones required for fruit growth (Fig. 3). Even if they do grow, they may still face other problems. For example, the pit may have sustained damage, predisposing it to shatter during phase III of fruit growth. If you wait for a week to 10 days, it will be easier and more accurate non-destructive assessment. The live flowers will develop normally, and the dead flowers will be shrunken brown mummies that can be flicked away easily. You will still have plenty of time to adjust fruit thinning to achieve a near-normal crop. You should not be in a hurry to do fruit thinning this year! If you see some fruits that have stopped getting bigger and are distinctly smaller, will you want to thin? Maybe after the June drop.
March 30, 2026 Ramandeep Kumar Sharma
Salem County Agronomy Twilight Meeting-1 (May 1, 2026)
SALEM COUNTY AGRONOMY TWILIGHT MEETING-1
Date & Time: May 1, 2026 | 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
(Program starts at 5:00 PM; please arrive a few minutes early)
Location: Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office, 51 Cheney Rd., Woodstown, NJ 08098
Registration:
Call: 856-769-0090
Email: molly.english@salemcountynj.gov
Credits Applied For:
- CORE: Basic Safety and Handling
- 1A: Agricultural Plant
- 10: Demonstration / Research
- PP2: Private Applicator
- 11: Animal (Livestock) Pest Control
Topics & Speakers:
- The 3R’s of Pesticide Use: Resistance, Rotation, and Regulation
Speaker: Janine Spies, Rutgers Cooperative Extension - The Endangered Species Act Changes to Pesticide Labels
Speaker: William J. Bamka, Rutgers Cooperative Extension - Nitrogen from Air to Soil using Sunlight
Speaker: Joseph R. Heckman, Rutgers University - Agronomist’s Field Guide to Drought Resilience
Speaker: Ramandeep Sharma, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
March 15, 2026 Janine Spies
SOUTH JERSEY CALIBRATION GROWERS MEETING
March 25, 2026
2:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Rutgers Agricultural Research & Extension Center
121 Northville Road
Bridgeton, NJ
Program
Program Chair
Janine Spies, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Statewide Program Leader in Fruit IPM
2:30 – Registration
3:00 – Welcome and Introductions
3:15 – Airblast Sprayer Calibration Techniques
Chris Lovenduski, Central Jersey Equipment
4:15 – Early season management in peaches
Anne Nielsen PhD, Professor & Extension Specialist in Entomology
4:45 – Light fare & refreshments (Pre-registration required)
5:00 – Coverage Counts: How to make the most of a pesticide application
Karly Regan PhD, Certis Biologicals
5:30 – Pesticide Safety and Regulations for Specialty Crops
Janine Spies PhD, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
6:00 – Pesticide Recertification Credits and Adjourn. Attendees must be present for the entire program in order to apply for NJDEP credits.
THE FOLLOWING NJDEP PESTICIDE RECERTIFICATION CREDITS WILL BE AWARDED
4 CAT-10 4 CAT-1A 3 CAT-3A 4 CORE 4 PP2
Click here to register: South Jersey Calibration Event Registration – Fill out form
PRE-REGISTRATION BY March 18, 2026
Registration cost per person is $10. Cash or check (made payable to Rutgers The State University) will be collected at the door.
If you have any questions please contact Janine Spies: (352)-231-6330, janine.spies@rutgers.edu
