- There have been no new reports of Late blight this this past week. All abandoned tomato fields should be mowed down or burned down with herbicide once harvesting is done.
- Pepper anthracnose remains active. Weekly maintenance sprays should continue as long as harvesting continues in fields where anthracnose is active.
- Following the heavy rains and with more rain expected over the weekend, bacterial leaf spot in pepper and marginal necrosis and leaf spot in leafy greens are being reported. Fungal leaf spots are also being reported. Preventative fungicide programs will help reduce fungal and bacterial problems in leafy greens.
- Cucurbit downy mildew has been confirmed on cucumber in New Jersey. Downy mildew is beginning to be reported on many other cucurbits in other parts of the country. All cucumber growers should continue with a downy mildew-specific fungicide to their weekly fungicide programs. All cucurbit growers need to scout on a regular basis and should mow or burn off fields when harvesting in done.
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.
Subscriptions are available via EMAIL and RSS.
Quick Links:
NJ Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations
Rutgers Weather Forecasting - Meteorological Information important to commercial agriculture.
Vegetable Disease Briefs – 10/6/16
Veg IPM Update: Week Ending 10/05/16
Sweet Corn
Corn earworm moth (CEW) activity has been fairly steady over the past week. Patches of locally higher activity remain within a generally low population (see CEW map). Catches are now rising and falling with night time temperatures. It is advisable to incorporate materials into the spray program that have different modes of action from the pyrethroids. This includes IRAC 28 materials like Coragen, Exirel and Besiege, as well as IRAC 5 (Radiant, Entrust (OMRI approved), and Blackhawk)). Growers should be checking CEW activity frequently, and adjust spray schedules according to local activity. On this map, green areas correspond to a 3-4 day silk spray schedule, while blue is 4-5 days.
The highest nightly CEW catches for the previous week are as follows:
Centerton 3 | Denville 1 | Milford 1 |
Green Creek 2 | Eldora 1 | New Egypt 1 |
Blairstown 1 | Farmingdale 1 | Sergeantsville 1 |
Califon 1 | Jones Island 1 | Tabernacle 1 |
Veg IPM Update: Week Ending 9/28/16
Sweet Corn
European corn borer (ECB) moths are nearly non-existent now. There are no particular areas of higher activity, and no map will appear in this edition. It is unlikely that we will realize any further injury from this pest this season.
Nearly all remaining sweet corn plantings are now in the silk stage. Fall armyworm (FAW) however, continues to be a threat to these sweet corn plantings. We should expect this pest to be with us at some level for the remainder of the sweet corn growing season. FAW do not respond well to pyrethroid insecticides. The most useful products are those in the IRAC group 28 class (Coragen, Exirel) or the IRAC group 5 class (Radiant, Entrust), or combination products including these classes. See the 2016 Commercial Vegetable Recommendations Guide for insecticides effective against FAW.
Vegetable Disease Briefs – 9/22/16
- There have been no new reports of Late blight this this past week. All abandoned tomato fields should be mowed down or burned down with herbicide once harvesting is done.
- Following the heavy rain, bacterial leaf spot in pepper and marginal necrosis and leaf spot in leafy greens are being reported.
- Cucurbit downy mildew has been confirmed on cucumber in New Jersey. To date, cucurbit downy mildew has been reported on cucumber and melon in the mid-Atlantic region. Downy mildew is beginning to be reported on many other cucurbits in other parts of the country. All cucumber growers need to add a downy mildew-specific fungicide to their weekly fungicide programs. All cucurbit growers need to scout on a regular basis.
Organic potato growers in New Jersey not immune to Dickeya dianthicola.
As the season begins to wind down for many organic farmers in New Jersey and the rest of the mid-Atlantic region, the question now becomes where to get potato seed for next year? Using PCR testing and North American Certified Seed Potato Health Certificates to track lot numbers, Dickeya dianthicola has been reported in 16 states (DE, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, VA, WV, OH, IN, MO, MI, and TX) on at least nine potato varieties to date in 2016. These varieties include: ‘Reba’, ‘Superior’, ‘Vivaldi’, ‘Norwis’, ‘Snowden’, ‘Yukon Gold’, ‘Beacon Chipper’, ‘Kennebec’, ‘Atlantic’, and ‘Chieftain’. A few of these varieties (Yukon Gold, Kennebec, and Chieftain) are grown organically in New Jersey and are bought through growers/distributors in Maine as well as other States.
Organic potato growers in New Jersey (and the region) who are currently looking for sources of seed for next season need to do their own due diligence and avoid those varieties and operations which have proven to be a source of Dickeya. Importantly, organic growers need to pay close attention and ask where their seed originated and for the accompanying North American Seed Health Certificate. This certificate will tell you where the seed was produced and by whom. As a note, organic seed suppliers who do not produce their own seed can purchase and re-sell seed from other seed growers. This seed may be organically or conventionally produced depending on whether there is a source of organic seed available or not. Checking the Production Environment Pedigree on North American Seed Health Certificate to know where the lot was grown in previous years and/or originated may also provide valuable information for potential Dickeya infestation since most of the seed bought in the region is year FY4 or FY5. Remember, a North American Seed Health Certificate with a 0% Blackleg reading does not mean the seed lot is necessarily free of Dickeya. The only way to know is to have the lot tested specifically for the pathogen using PCR and/or to cross check that lot with other seed from the same lot that may have or may not have been tested and sold to others. Organic potato growers need to follow the same best management practices as conventional growers.
The best method for keeping your potato operation Dickeya-free is to adopt your own 0% Dickeya-tolerance policy.
Veg IPM Update: Week Ending 9/21/16
Sweet Corn
European corn borer (ECB) moth numbers have decreased this past week such that only a handful of moths were captured. There are no particular areas of higher activity, and no map will appear in this edition. It is unlikely that we will realize any further injury from this pest this season.
The highest nightly ECB catches for the previous week are as follows:
Cinnaminson 1 | Milltown 1 |
Clinton 1 | Pedricktown 1 |
Hillsborough 1 | Sergeantsville 1 |