Rutgers Cooperative Extension
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.
Our annual Vegetable Integrated Crop Management Twilight Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at the East Vineland Fire Hall, on Landis Ave. across from the Savoy Restaurant (use 4931 Landis Ave, Vineland, NJ 08360 for your GPS, and please park behind the building to enter conference room door in rear).
Agenda
Pesticide Recertification Credits have been requested for this meeting.
Hope to see you there!
Roberta Lang is the Ag Resource Specialist at the NJ Dept of Agriculture who arranges the pesticide container recycling program. She reports there was a request at the Hammonton collection last Friday to provide the link to DEP’s pesticide control program where applicators can check the status of their credits and the courses that have been taken. I’ve also had recent calls from growers requesting this and it takes some searching to find it. Below are the instructions Roberta sent. You might want to bookmark whichever site below gets to the information you need most directly.
To review course history:
Phytophthora crown and spear rot – In fields with low spots (poorly drained soils) or fields with a history of crown and/or spear rot apply Ridomil Gold 4SL (mefenoxam, 4) at 1.0 pt/A, or Ultra Flourish 2E/A (mefenoxam, 4) at 2.0 pt/A, or MetaStar 2E (metalaxyl, 4) at 2.0 qt/A over beds just before 1st harvest. For new plantings, apply the same after planting or after crown covering. Do not apply Ridomil or MetaStar one day prior to harvest or illegal residues may result. For more information please see the 2016-2017 Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide. [Read more…]
Asparagus season is just around the corner and now is a good time to review important diseases.
Wet soil conditions are ideal for Phytophthora and Pythium development. To help reduce potential losses, especially in fields with low spots or fields that are poorly drained soils, or more importantly, in fields with a history of either disease apply Ridomil Gold 4SL (mefenoxam, 4) at 1.0 pt/A, or Ultra Flourish 2E/A (mefenoxam, 4) at 2.0 pt/A, or MetaStar 2E (metalaxyl, 4) at 2.0 qt/A over beds just before first harvest. For new plantings, apply the same after planting or after crown covering. Do not apply Ridomil or MetaStar one day prior to harvest or illegal residues may result. [Read more…]
Unfortunately, closed greenhouses retain heat and humidity which can spell problems if left unchecked.
Remember, high relative humidity equals wet leaves which favor the development of fungal diseases such as Botrytis or bacterial diseases such as bacterial leaf spot. To avoid potential problems, do your best to vent out as much humidity as possible in the late afternoon and/or early morning. Turn on circular fans to promote air movement and finish watering earlier enough in the day so leaves have enough time to dry out before nightfall.
As a side note, stressed transplants where water and/or fertility have been withheld are also more prone to disease development. A light fertilizer application may go a long way in improving transplant health before setting in the field.
Please see Table E-14 and pages E52-E54 of the 2016-2017 Commercial Vegetable Recommendations Guide for a list of control options for important diseases in greenhouses.
