Rutgers Cooperative Extension
The Plant & Pest Advisory serves NJ growers by reporting on important pests and recommending responses that are grounded in reproducible trials.
Articles in this section contain information helpful to the NJ commercial organic grower.
Sharing organic practice trial results between land-grant universities is a cost effective way to create a common knowledge base built on the strengths of individual programs. In the sidebar, find institutions with programs in organic agriculture which augment knowledge developed at the Rutgers New Jersey Ag Experiment Station.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Field Guides: These concise guides help with decision making from pre-planting to harvest. For each crop listed, learn what pests to proactively look for as the season progresses, how to look for them, and when to take action.
Tonight at 7:00PM – Last Session for the On-Farm Direct Marketing May Webinar series.
Farmer Panel: Tracy Duffield-Duffield’s Farm Market, Dave Specca- Specca’s Pick-Your-Own Farm and Jess Niederer – Chickadee Creek Farm and CSA will discuss what they have changed on their farms due to COVID-19.
Please join us online at https://go.rutgers.edu/k0d59m8h
or
On the phone 1-650-429-3300 with Access code: 226 795 368 # and then # again.
Last night on “Ask the Ag Agent” we discussed The NJ Department of Health’s “Interim Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guidance for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, Their Employers, and Housing Providers” guidance document. We will continue to facilitate discussion on “Ask the Ag Agent” forum for this topic and others next week. Please feel free to bring up any ag-related topics for discussion on this forum.
“Ask the Ag Agent” weekly 1-hour sessions for farmers will be hosted weekly and continue each Wednesday until May 27th. The online conferencing/call in events will begin at 7:00PM with an open forum to discuss ag-related questions about production, marketing, regulations and any other topics farmers wish to discuss. All are welcome. Events are hosted by William Bamka, Stephen Komar, Meredith Melendez and Michelle Infante-Casella – Agricultural Agents.
To access via WebEx on a computer go to https://go.rutgers.edu/rc9n3kxt
Or, Join by phone
+1-650-429-3300 USA Toll
Access code: 799 743 872
For additional Rutgers Cooperative Extension educational programs check out https://events.rutgers.edu/njaes/
Sweet Corn
The black light trap network is complete at this time. To date, one corn earworm (CEW) was captured at Eldora, Cape May County. A very few European corn borer (ECB) moths have been captured this past week, indicating that as warmer weather begins to arrive, we should see increasing numbers over the next several weeks. This pest poses little threat at this time, as they are few in number and the earliest sweet corn plants are only just reaching suitable size to support larvae.
The highest nightly trap catches of ECB for the week ending 5/20/20 are as follows:
| Downer 1 |
| Hackettstown 1 |
| Medford 1 |
The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Sue Fulton, on Monday, May 18th, announced additional extensions to driver license, registration, and inspection expiration dates in the continuing efforts to mitigate COVID-19 and safeguard public health.
Effective immediately, the following documents, if expiring between March 13 and May 31, have been extended to July 31. Documents expiring June 30 are extended two months to August 31, and those expiring July 31 are extended to September 30.
• All Standard driver licenses (including permits) and standard non-driver IDs
• Privately owned and commercial vehicle registrations (including Farmer and Farm Use registrations)
• Vehicle inspections
• Purple Heart/Disabled Veteran placards
• Temporary tags
“Get it done online now, if you’re able,” Fulton suggests. “We do anticipate that volumes will spike once we reopen and when we reach the end of these extensions. Our job is to serve customers in the most efficient way possible and one way we can do that is by steering people to our expanded list of online services.”
On March 13, the NJMVC initially announced two-month extensions for licenses, registrations, and inspection stickers expiring in March, April, and May, timelines that have now been pushed back.
The NJMVC encourages customers to utilize online services, which have been expanded during the COVID-19 crisis. In most cases, customers can renew a license, replace a lost license, change an address, renew a registration, and complete other transactions through the NJMVC’s Online Services portal.
Customers also should check NJMVC.gov for the latest information and updates.
Sweet Corn
IPM Program personnel have re-established the black light trap network in New Jersey. With continued below normal temperatures, no corn earworm (CEW) or European corn borer (ECB) moths have been captured. As numbers increase, look for population maps of ECB, CEW, brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and CEW catches from pheromone traps in this weekly publication. The resulting full-state maps will include interpretive information.
With cold, damp conditions dramatically slowing down the growth of seedling corn, wire worms (see photo at left) have the potential to be more of a nuisance than usual. While we don’t often see this problem in sweet corn, it does occasionally happen when wire worms are present and the corn cannot grow quickly enough to become less susceptible to injury. Look for clusters of seedlings that exhibit wilted inner leaves. Wire worms often are discovered by digging up these affected seedlings. The incidence of this damage may be minor, but if growers determine that a field must be replanted, it may be necessary to include an in-furrow soil insecticide targeting this pest.
Plastic mulch has been widely adopted by vegetable growers everywhere. The benefits of plastic mulch and raised beds have proven to improve crop quality and yields.
One practice some growers use, just after transplanting into plastic mulch, is to have workers place a small shovel full of soil around the 
base of the plant and enough to seal the hole around the plant. This works best for transplants with tall stems – tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cole crops.
One caution before using this beneficial cultural practice, is to understand the implications of herbicides applied between rows. If a herbicide was applied in row middles that is harmful to the crop planted into the plastic mulch, the transplant could be damaged, stunted or die. Read the herbicide label before using row middle soil to fill in the planting hole. If the row middle soil is safe to apply, then this practice is recommended.
Why is the tedious, time-consuming and laborious task so important?
There are a few reasons.
1. Placing soil around the transplant and planting hole will prevent water from puddling around the plant when significant rainfalls occur. Excessive puddling around the transplant can induce root and crown disease infections.
2. The extra soil will provide support and stability for the plant until roots can anchor the plant in the ground and the plants can be staked
and tied.
3. By adding soil to seal-over the plastic mulch hole, the seal will prevent “venting” of hot air. This is especially important when plants are young, acclimating to outdoor weather and when hot and sunny days occur shortly after transplanting.
All reasons listed above will be important this week, as the weather conditions for Thursday call for rain in New Jersey and then flowed by temperatures in the 80s. Soil temperatures will rise and more critical, air temperatures under plastic mulch will be much higher than 80 degrees. The hot air venting on young, tender transplants will cause stress and can possibly lead to transplant death.
For these reasons, it is important to fill in and seal those transplant holes.
