Vegetable Crops Edition

Seasonal updates and alerts on insects, diseases, and weeds impacting vegetable crops. New Jersey Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations updates between annual publication issues are included.
 
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April 21, 2020

USDA Announces Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

From usda.gov/media/press-releases on April 17, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP).

“The program will provide $16 billion in direct support based on actual losses for agricultural producers where prices and market supply chains have been impacted…” including $9.5 billion in aid to cattle, dairy and hog farmers, $3.9B to row/commodity crops, $2.1B for specialty crops growers, and $500 mil for “other” crops ($500 million).

The remaining $3B will be used to increase purchases of fresh produce, dairy, and meat to be distributed through “food banks, community and faith based organizations, and other non-profits serving Americans in need.”

More details about the CFAP can be found in the press release, however, as of yesterday morning, local USDA Service Centers had not yet received directions on how/where/when farmers should apply for direct assistance. They will inform local farmers as soon as the information becomes available and we will also pass on that information as soon as we have it.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Field, Forage & Livestock, Fruit, Vegetable Crops
April 21, 2020

Soil Temperatures and Seed Germination/Growth

Temperature gauge for soil This season’s warm March made it tempting to get an early start planting crops. However to give plants a jump on the season, resist the lure of warm air temperatures. Instead, pay more attention to your soils’ temperatures.

One might think the warmer March, not to mention the very mild January and February, and even this past weekend’s 70°F, would mean warmer soil temperatures by now than when retired colleague Ray Samulis originally wrote most of this post in 2014. Ray discussed recording 56-58°F temperatures from soils in various Central Jersey commercial vegetable fields on April 15 just before a multi-day cold front arrived. He had anticipated colder temperatures. Today, expecting higher temperatures, a quick sampling revealed soils nearly ten degrees cooler (48-52°F) than what Ray had measured.

What do soil temperatures have to do with your early vegetable seedlings?

  • Mean spring soil temperatures determine nutrient availability, especially phosphorus which is closely related to early root growth, as well as nitrogen, hence, overall crop development.
  • Knowing your earlier warming ‘hot’ fields can be reliable planting spots for cold tolerant vegetables, but monitoring the temperatures is the only way to know for sure. Germination temperature requirements for common vegetables are listed in the table below.
  • Many of the same techniques (raised beds, clear plastic mulch, floating row cover, windbreaks) used to protect early warm season transplanted crops can also be used to warm the soil to give a boost to early direct seeded crops.

When it is sunny or when the wind is howling, judging the suitability for planting may seem clear. However, monitoring field specific soil temperatures and paying close attention to crop varietal cold tolerance (published by most seed companies) are better guides. Besides a soil thermometer, there are now many relatively inexpensive weather monitoring systems (from dataloggers that monitor individual parameters like soil temperature, to complete systems that will measure air and soil temps, wind speed, rainfall, and more – more on those in another post) that can be observed directly or can be linked to smart phones/devices and/or office computers miles away.

webshot Syngenta GreenCast Soil Temp for NJWhile it’s best to measure soil temperatures in your own fields, there are also online soil temperature reporting  alternatives like the Rutgers NJ Weather Network. Twelve weather stations offer real time soil temperatures. Check the numbered station nearest your fields and bookmark the station. Syngenta GreenCast also offers broad regional soil temperature maps, with a 5-day soil prediction forecast feature, or you can put in your town and zip code for a local average (see figure 1). This is useful data when weather conditions are less than favorable and only narrow planting windows exist.

These temperatures represent vegetable seedling survival tolerance, not necessarily best performance:

Average Minimum Spring Soil Temperatures
 Vegetable Crop Tolerance for Reliable Germination
40°F Beet, Cabbage, Potato, Spinach, Turnip
45°F Pea, Mustard, Leek
50°F Carrot, Lettuce, Onion, Sweet Corn
60°F and above Bean, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Squash
70°F and above Eggplant, Watermelon

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Vegetable Crops
April 21, 2020

Rutgers Ethnic Crops Research In The News

Dr. Albert Ayeni of Rutgers Department of Plant Biology summarized ongoing work of our Ethnic Crop Research Group exploring new crops for the diverse ethnic populations of the Garden State and beyond in an article published on HortDaily.com during the summer.

According to Ayeni, “Ethnic (or Exotic) crops present new opportunities for growers, produce marketers and consumers in New Jersey (NJ) and the Mid-Atlantic.”

As the season comes to an end and you have some more time to read, learn about four crops that Ayeni finds especially interesting at “Ethnic Crops Present New Opportunities for Growers in NJ and Mid-Atlantic”.

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: ,
April 21, 2020

Vegetable Disease Update – 4/21/20

  • Bacterial leaf spot has been reported on savoy cabbage in southern New Jersey.
  • Timber rot has been reported in greenhouse pepper in southern New Jersey. For more information on white mold on tomato and pepper click here.
  • Cold weather injury has been reported in numerous vegetable crops throughout the state.
  • Bacterial leaf blight in Cilantro was reported this week in southern New Jersey.
  • Common leaf spot was reported in strawberry this past week. For more information click here.
  • White rust and anthracnose have been reported in spinach over the past few weeks. For more information click here.
  • Damping-off has been reported in pepper transplants this past week. For more information click here
Timber rot in greenhouse pepper

Timber rot in greenhouse pepper

Bacterial leaf spot in savoy cabbage

Bacterial leaf spot in savoy cabbage

Frost damage in strawberry

Frost damage in strawberry (photo: T. Besancon)

 

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops
April 21, 2020

Recognizing cold injury in spring crops

If the erratic, wet weather wasn’t enough, temperatures have fluctuated wildly this spring with night time temperatures dropping to near freezing in some parts of the state and region in recent days. With this comes the potential for cold injury on spring planted crops. Cold injury can take may different shapes on affected plants and developing fruit.

In some cases, sympoms may show up on the newest growth as a result of non-lethal injury to meristematic tissue, in pepper and tomato, new growth may be distorted with misshapen leaves. In some cases, new leaves may have a mottled, or mosaic look much like a plant infected with a mosaic virus. In these instances, plants will grow out of the problem.

In cucumber, symptoms on maturing fruit appear as brownish-tan areas on the epidermis of fruit. The fruit will also show cracking as if it has a dry rot. The effects are physiological where areas of young developing fruit got chilled by the cold night time temperatures.

We have collected a few images below of cold injury from crops from this spring.

Cuke_cold injury

Cold injury on cucumber fruit. The initial damage was done a few weeks ago while the fruit was very young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury on young cucumber plant (Photo: M. Casella)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury on young cauliflower plant (photo: K. Holmstrom)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frost damage in strawberry (photo: T. Besancon)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury on sweet corn under low tunnel. (photo: M. Casella)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury on cucumber seedling (photo: M. Casella)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury in emerging asparagus spear (photo: Rick VanVranken)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freezing of young potato plant (photo: Rick VanVranken)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold injury on snap bean. (photo: Jack Rabin)

Freeze damage caused by ice crystal formation in veins of snap bean (photo: Jack Rabin)

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops Tagged With: , , ,
April 20, 2020

Covid-19 and Wholesale Grower Questions

The CDC, FDA and USDA have no reports at this time of human illnesses that suggest coronavirus can be transmitted by food or food packaging.

What should an operation do to protect their workers and themselves? Growers should inform employees concerning the importance of following recommended guidelines for their own health, the protection of co-workers and to keep the farm running.  Anyone getting sick with COVID–19 will have a significant impact on continued operation of the farm!
Transportation
1. Do not pack too many workers in a vehicle. Ideally there should just be two individuals in a pickup. If using buses have one individual per seat.
2. If bringing workers in from another country or another part of the United States, consider quarantining them for up to 14 days. It is especially important if one in the group is showing symptoms.
Labor Housing
1. Social distancing inside labor housing with a common bunk room may be a challenge. Consider installing temporary/permanent screens/walls between bunks, separating bunks as far as space allows, or divide bunks into individual beds if practical/possible.
2. Plan for what would happen if someone contracted Covid-19. There should be a separate area set aside for that individual, whether it is a separate room or in another house. The original camp should be cleaned and sanitized following CDC guidelines before any workers return. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Food Safety, Fruit, Vegetable Crops