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.
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Overwintered spinach weed control requires the control of several troublesome winter annual weeds, including chickweed species, mustard species, henbit, and annual bluegrass.
Common Chickweed in Overwintered Spinach
The only postemergence broadleaf herbicide currently recommended and available for use in spinach is Spin-Aid. The rate range for Spin-Aid is 3 to 6 pints per acre, for the control of seedling annual broadleaf weeds.
[Read more…]
Last summer a pepper differential trial was done near Vineland, NJ to help determine if new races of bacterial leaf spot (BLS) were present in the area. At least 11 races of BLS have been identified to date.
…look at ways to detect the presence of BLS susceptibility on your farm. Run your own internal “tests”: plant a few cultivars with known BLS resistance and take note which ones develop symptoms. Be ready to adopt cultivars with a larger BLS resistance package.
Damping-off is caused by a number of important vegetable pathogens and is very common during transplant production and early-spring. Damping-off can kill seedlings before they break the soil line (pre-emergent damping-off) or kill seedlings soon after they emerge (post-emergent damping-off). Common pathogens that cause damping-off include Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium spp.
It is extremely important to know which pathogen is causing the damping-off problem and which fungicide to properly apply.
It has been in the news, of course, about the severity of the 2013/2014 winter with record breaking low temperatures and higher than normal snow amounts in many locations. So how does all this translate to crop insect pests? As an article that I read last week said, “It’s complicated”.
There are many factors that affect insect mortality through the winter months. It is not only just the cold, but the amount of snow cover, overall fitness of the insects going into the winter diapause (hibernation), how well protected were they from the cold, what the weather conditions are coming out of winter, and so on.
Local native insects are much more likely to survive the winter than southern migratory insects. [Read more…]
Peas are planted as early as ground can be worked in late February or early March in the mid-Atlantic states. Planting continues into late April to stagger the harvest. This is especially important for peas grown for processing. Peas planted later, in April, germinate and emerge quickly in the relatively warm soil, but early planted peas emerge more slowly. This exposes the new root and shoot emerging from the seed to the herbicide in the soil for a longer period of time. In addition, the new seedling’s ability to detoxify a herbicide is temperature dependent, working more slowly in cold weather. These conditions make the crop more susceptible to herbicide injury during cold weather that can reduce the stand or delay harvest. [Read more…]
Growers who chose to farm under organic conditions can find valuable information on cultural practices, variety recommendations, alternative pest management methods, and NOP approved products in the 2014 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide.
Note that people who apply pesticides for the purpose of raising an agricultural commodity, including organic farmers, need to be licensed as a Private Pesticide Applicator. Small/Organic Farms Private Pesticide Applicator Training is being held April 9, 2014 in Mercer County.
The 2014 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide is published annually and is now available for free download. Between publications, updates to the guide can be found here on the Plant & Pest Advisory.
