The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced March 20 that the Traceability Rule is being delayed for 30 months. The rule was to go into effect January 1, 2026, but now enforcement will not start for at least 2.5 years. FDA will be publishing a proposed rule at a later date. There are no indications at this time what changes they plan to make or how it will impact growers of different size operations.
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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March 21, 2025 Kate Brown
Stop the Bleed Training: Burlington County
Rutgers Cooperative Extension, in partnership with the Vegetable Growers Association of NJ and the Rutgers NJ Medical School, will host a Stop the Bleed training on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Rutgers EcoComplex located at 1200 Florence Columbus Rd, Fieldsboro, NJ 08505.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the life-saving skills of pressure application, wound packing, and use of tourniquets. Attendees of this free training will also receive a complementary bleeding control kit. Space is limited, register today! Please complete our pre-registration form by Monday, April 1.
Questions? Email Kate Brown, RCE-Somerset County Ag Agent, at kbrown@njaes.rutgers.edu or call 908-526-6293.
March 20, 2025 Amanda Quadrel
Allium Leafminer Update 3/20/2025
Happy first day of Spring! Many parts of New Jersey are close to accumulating 250 growing degree days (GDDs) base 39˚F, which is when the first emergence of Allium leafminer (ALM) adults is predicted to occur. In some areas of New Jersey, 250 GDDs are forecasted to be surpassed as early as this weekend. In Cape May, oviposition scars have already been spotted. If you would like to know how many GDDs have accumulated in your area, the NEWA website https://newa.cornell.edu/ has a helpful GDD calculator. From the NEWA home screen, select the nearest weather station from drop down menu at the center of the page. Next, scroll down to “Weather Tools” on the right side of the page, and select “DD Calculator”. Select your start date (1/01/25) and end date, as well as Degree Day Type (39 F) from the menu at the left of the page. The site will automatically generate the accumulated GDD base 39F to the last day of your requested sample, and then offer a forecast of accumulated GDD for the next week.
ALM can cause injury to chives, scallions, garlic, onions and leeks, but leeks and scallions seem to be the most effected. Look for neat rows of white spots descending from the upper tips of allium leaves (see photo below). Initial injury often occurs on the tallest leaves. Adults may be seen in warmer conditions at the tips of the leaves- look for small flies with grey-black bodies and yellow heads (see photo below).
If you are concerned about crop injury due to Allium leafminer, you may want to prepare for control efforts. Floating row covers, kept on until the first flight ends (around the end of May) can restrict ALM’s access to vulnerable plants. Adults can be targeted through insecticide sprays. Appropriate materials that are labeled for ALM control include spinosyns (Radiant, Entrust (OMRI approved)), pyrethroids (Mustang Maxx, Warrior), neonicotinoids (Scorpion, Venom), and the insect growth regulator Trigard. The first application should be applied 2- 3 weeks after initial detection of ALM flies (if you see oviposition scars or the fly itself) and subsequent sprays should be completed in 1–2-week intervals. Two or three sprays should provide adequate control.
Notice the white oviposition scars and an adult female ALM. Photo: Brian A. Nault, Cornell AgriTech.
If you have any questions/concerns, feel free to reach out to me at amanda.quadrel@rutgers.edu or 732-742-8441.
March 10, 2025 Kate Brown
Stop the Bleed Trainings: Hunterdon and Burlington County
Rutgers Cooperative Extension has partnered with the Vegetable Growers Association of NJ to offer two upcoming Stop the Bleed trainings. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the life-saving skills of pressure application, wound packing, and use of tourniquets. Attendees of this free training will also receive a complementary bleeding control kit. Space is limited, register today!
HUNTERDON COUNTY:
- Wednesday, March 19, 2025 from 6:30-8:00 pm
- Amwell Valley Fire Company located at 22 County Road #579, Ringoes, NJ 08551
- Training will be delivered by trainers from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
- Please complete our pre-registration form by Friday, March 14
BURLINGTON COUNTY:
- Tuesday, April 8, 2025 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
- Rutgers EcoComplex located at 1200 Florence Columbus Rd, Fieldsboro, NJ 08505
- Training will be delivered by students from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
- Please complete our pre-registration form by Monday, April 1
Questions? Email Kate Brown, RCE-Somerset County Ag Agent, at kbrown@njaes.rutgers.edu or call 908-526-6293.
March 3, 2025 Kate Brown
SAVE THE DATE: Farm Viability Extension Specialist Candidate Seminar
Manlin Cui, candidate for Extension Specialist in Farm Viability, will deliver her stakeholder seminar “Bridging Research and Practice: Enterprise Budgets, Sustainable Innovations, and Consumer Insights” on Monday, March 10, 2025 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
The seminar will take place at the Middlesex County E.A.R.T.H. Center located at 42 Riva Ave, North Brunswick Township, NJ 08902. We welcome you to attend in person, but a Zoom option is available. Email kbrown@njaes.rutgers.edu for Zoom attendance troubleshooting. [Read more…]
March 2, 2025 Nick Polanin
USDA Extends Deadline For The 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties
Trenton, NJ – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will continue to collect the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties through April 18, 2025. Conducted just once every five years, the Census of Horticultural Specialties is the only source of detailed production and sales data for U.S. floriculture, nursery, and specialty crop industries, including greenhouse food crops.
Growers are encouraged to complete their survey either online at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail as soon as possible. The online questionnaire is user-friendly, accessible on most electronic devices, and saves producers time by calculating totals and automatically skipping questions that do not apply to their operations.
NASS enumerators will also continue gathering data and ask respondents to complete and return their survey form as soon as possible. If those who have received the form are no longer involved in horticultural operations, or need assistance completing the questionnaire, they can call toll-free, 888-424-7828 so their record can be updated.
Producers who receive the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties are required to respond by federal law (Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113), as it is part of the Census of Agriculture program. That same law also requires NASS to keep all individual information confidential.
“This is a great opportunity to show the importance of New Jersey food grown under cover,” stated Bruce Eklund, USDA/NASS NJ State Statistician. “Our end-of-the-year vegetable survey, for example, only shows crops grown in the open.” Growers should have received the survey via mail and or a specific survey code to complete the survey online. If you can’t locate the survey or your code, please contact Bruce at 503.308.0404 or by email at bruce.eklund@usda.gov.
The 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties data is scheduled to be available on December 16, 2025, at nass.usda.gov/AgCensus and in the Quick Stats database at quickstats.nass.usda.gov. For more about the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties, please visit nass.usda.gov/go/hort.
NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
