Rutgers University | New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station | Pesticide User Responsibility

Organic Farm Advisory

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.

June 6, 2018

IPM Update 6/06/18

Sweet Corn

European corn borer (ECB) moths continue to be captured in black light traps, but numbers are low overall.  Activity has shifted northward, with the highest activity now from Mercer County northward (see ECB map).   Despite these low adult numbers, IPM technicians have reported dramatic increases in feeding in whorl stage plantings in the central and northern counties.  Numbers of infested plants have reached 40% in the Somerville area, and 30% near Sparta in Sussex County.  In many cases, nearby farms exhibit little or no feeding in similar stage sweet corn, so these elevated infestation rates can be highly localized.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops
May 31, 2018

Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County Has New Office Location

County Agricultural Agents, Michelle Infante-Casella and Hemant Gohil have a new office location in Gloucester County. The Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Office in Gloucester County relocated last week. The new location is now at the Shady Lane County Complex, 254 County House Road, Clarksboro, NJ 08020. The entrance is on the right side of the main 3-story brick building, under the numbers 254; follow the sidewalk with gray brick pavers.

Front-side of a building

Entrance to the RCE of Gloucester County Offices down the sidewalk on the right.

The office also has a new phone number and Agricultural Agents and other staff can be reached at 856-224-8040 (Agriculture and Natural Resources is extension 1). This new complex provided by Gloucester County offers more office space and multiple options for educational programs. To the left side of the complex is a 4-classroom building, formerly the Gloucester County Fire Academy, that is now operated by Rowan College of Gloucester County, that can be utilized for extension education and other county-related events. The main office building has 3 conference rooms for small group meetings. RCE will still have access to the main auditorium at the former facility in Clayton. For more information about Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County see http://gloucester.njaes.rutgers.edu.

Filed Under: Blueberry, Commercial Ag Updates, Cranberry, Disease Forecasting, Field, Forage & Livestock, Food Safety, Fruit, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Organic Production, Plant Diagnostic Lab, Strawberry, Tree Fruit, Turf, Uncategorized, Vegetable Crops, Wine Grape
May 30, 2018

IPM Update 5/30/18

Sweet Corn

Increasing numbers of European corn borer (ECB) moths have been captured this past week, but still relatively few moths overall.  At present, the highest activity is on the Cumberland-Atlantic border, with minor concentrations in Salem and northern Burlington counties (see ECB map). As early sweet corn plantings progress through whorl and pre-tassel stages, feeding from this pest may be detectable.  Look for the characteristic “shot-hole” type of feeding (photo at right) and consider treating when infested plants exceed 12% in a 50 plant sample.

 

The highest nightly trap catches of ECB for the week ending 5/30/18 are as follows:

East Vineland   2 Centerton   1 Eldora   1
Allentown   1 Cinnaminson   1 Medford   1
Belvidere   1 Crosswicks   1 South Branch   1
Califon   1 Denville   1 Woodstown   1

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops
May 23, 2018

IPM Update 5/23/18

Sweet Corn

The black light trap network is nearly complete at this time.  To date, no corn earworm (CEW) have been captured.  Increasing numbers of European corn borer (ECB) moths have been captured this past week, although numbers are still quite low.  At present, the highest activity is in portions of northern Burlington and northwestern Ocean counties (see ECB map).  This pest poses little threat at this time, as 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 5/23/18 are as follows:

Allentown   1 Dayton   1 New Egypt   1
Centerton   1 Jobstown   1
Croswicks   1 Medford   1

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops
May 16, 2018

IPM Update 5/16/18

Sweet Corn

IPM Program personnel are currently finishing deployment of the black light trap network in New Jersey.  At present, we are approximately 70% operational and have begun to monitor traps.  To date, no corn earworm (CEW) have been captured.  The low numbers of European corn borer (ECB) moths that have been caught do not allow us to produce a map image.  As numbers increase, look for population maps of ECB, CEW and CEW catches from pheromone traps in this weekly publication.

The highest nightly trap catches of ECB for the week ending 5/15/18 are as follows:

Allentown          1              New Egypt          1

Crosswicks          1              Pennington        1

European corn borer egg mass on a pepper leaf.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops
April 24, 2018

Controlling Septoria Leaf Spot and Bacterial Leaf Blight in Parsley

Septoria leaf spot (SLS) in Parsley can cause significant losses in fields where it has become established. Like other Septoria’s, the leaf spots produced on parsley look much like the leaf spots produced on tomatoes and other crops. Septoria leaf spot overwinters from year to year on infected debris so long crop rotations of 2 or more years are important to help reduce disease pressure. During the season, SLS will spread rapidly with each subsequent rainfall and/or overhead irrigation event. Therefore, early detection and preventative fungicide applications are key to successfully controlling SLS. Unfortunately, very few fungicides are currently labeled making control difficult.

Parsley SLS

Septoria leaf spot of Parsley

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: ,