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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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May 8, 2014

Small Farm Post-Harvest Practices Workshop

Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2 PM to 4:30 PM
Location: Webinar presentation @ Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office of Mercer County, 930 Spruce Street, Trenton, NJ
Followed by on-farm portion @ Z Food Farm, 3501 Princeton Pike, Lawrence, NJ

Improving post-harvest practices can help minimize produce damage and maximize the amount of quality produce that can be sold at market. Evaluating current post-harvest practices and identifying low-cost improvements is an important part of farm planning, and should be done as early in the season as possible.

Z FOODRutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County and NOFA-NJ welcome Lee Stivers from Penn State Extension as she joins us remotely giving a presentation on post-harvest handling procedures for high-quality, marketable produce via webinar.

The webinar workshop portion will be followed by a farm tour of Z Food Farm’s post-harvest handling set-up. Z Food Farm is a small certified organic farm located in Lawrenceville, NJ.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Organic Production
May 7, 2014

Weed Control in Re-Used Plastic Mulch

Plastic mulch and trickle irrigation is expensive. Re-using the mulch after the first crop can be cost effective.

Plastic mulch and trickle irrigation are expensive.
Re-using the mulch for a second crop after the first can be an effective way to spread the cost.

When the cost of supplies and labor are evaluated, re-using a field with trickle irrigation and black plastic mulch is an attractive idea, but weed control can be a problem.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops
May 7, 2014

Veg IPM Update: Week Ending 5/07/14

PW trap numbers 4-30-14Vegetable IPM Report 5-07-14 – Click to View | Download | Print
Current Week’s Pest Maps – Available Maps for the week
Pepper Weevil Trap Catch Map

Rutgers Cooperative Extension IPM personnel are currently deploying blacklight trap and insect pheromone trap networks throughout the state. Statewide sampling will commence shortly, and as soon as target pests begin to appear, insect data will be published in the Plant and Pest Advisory and on the NJAES website @ http://tinyurl.com/njaes-ipm-maps

Pest populations of European corn borer (ECB), corn earworm (CEW) and brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) from blacklight samples will be posted in table and in map format. Additionally, adult CEW populations from a pheromone network in southern NJ will be posted in both formats. Pepper weevil trap catches from southern NJ will be posted in map format. Beet armyworm (BAW) adult populations from a southern NJ pheromone network will be posted in table form beginning in mid-July.

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops
May 7, 2014

Understanding Combination Insecticide Products

When using blended products:

  • Know the pest that you need to control.
  • Use an appropriate insecticide that will do the job with as little negative impact as possible.
  • Avoid broad spectrum insecticides when possible.
  • Avoid using redundant materials.

Over the past decade, the number of vegetable insecticides (both commercial products and insecticide classes) has increased significantly.  Included in these are a number of materials with novel modes of action (MOA), and high degrees of pest specificity. For example, some newer materials have efficacy against caterpillars only, while others may control caterpillars and some fly larvae. Other examples are detailed in the chart, Combination Insecticide Products for Commercial Vegetable Crops. This article clarifies the options in the Commercial Vegetable Recommendations so that growers may make more informed choices as to the most useful product for specific pests. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops
May 5, 2014

2014 Potato and Tomato Reports Available

The 2014 Potato and Tomato Reports are now available! Just scroll over the Vegetable Crops tab on the Plant and Pest Advisory homepage and links for each report will appear.

Like in years past, both reports will be updated twice a week for those interested in timing their fungicide applications according to Tom-Cast and Blightcast from NEWA information. Real-time updates can also be obtained by going directly to the NEWA site, selecting the nearest weather station to your farm operation, and clicking on the appropriate model. It is that simple! As always, should Late Blight appear in our region sometime this season a PPA Alert will be sent out to those signed up.

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops Tagged With:
May 5, 2014

Basil Downy Mildew Reported – NJ 5/5/14

Basil downy mildew was reported in a greenhouse in Virginia last week. The first question I asked myself was, “How can that be?”

BDM_OW_GH

Basil downy mildew on overwintered sweet basil plant.
Note symptoms on leaf top side and downy mildew spores on leaf underside.

Well, before I could come up with a good answer, basil downy mildew was found in a high tunnel in Salem County today. I don’t have any of the details from the VA report yet, but I do have a lot of information from New Jersey.

The infected plants in question, roughly 12 mature potted sweet basil plants, were just a few plants that were left over from last fall and carried over the winter in a non-heated high tunnel on benches with heated mats and row cover. The heated mats and row cover were for protecting other crops. Interestingly, the basil did not freeze out, somehow managed to survive the winter without much heat, and produce downy mildew spores once the outside temperatures rose.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops