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.
Sweet Corn
European corn borer (ECB) moth catches continue to be extremely low around the state, although there has been some increase in adults in southern traps. ECB population maps will resume if second flight catches rise to high enough numbers.
The highest nightly trap catches of ECB for the week ending 07/27/22 are as follows:
| Allentown 1 | Jones Island 1 | Oldwick 1 |
| Eldora 1 | Medford 1 | Tabernacle 1 |
| Elm 1 | Milltown 1 | |
| Georgetown 1 | New Egypt 1 |
Drought conditions continue to stress crops in South-Central counties and a significant portion of northern NJ. Although the US Drought Monitor indicates conditions are only in the abnormally dry category, local conditions along the Pilesgrove-Upper Pittsgrove border west of the Salem River and adjoining areas of Gloucester County are experiencing moderate drought conditions in some fields; but not others due to the sporadic precipitation paths of recent storms. All stages of corn and soybeans in affected fields are showing signs of yield reduction due to disruption of pollination and seed set.
The USGS Below Normal 7-Day Average Streamflow Condition Map more accurately reflects a moderate hydrologic drought (darker orange colored area). A significant portion of the region has seen below normal precipitation for the past seven days. A streamflow which is less than the 25 percentile is considered below normal. The darker orange shaded areas of South-Central NJ of the USGS map represents 6-9 percentile stream flow activity.
Another way to observe increasing crop stress is to look at the cubic feet per second discharge of streams in the area since planting season. As seen in this graph of the Maurice River at Norma, NJ, current stream level discharge is well below the median daily discharge value over the past 88 years.
For information on USDA available drought related programs by commodity, see the poster:
Click to access farmersgov-disaster-assistance-brochure-07-21-2022.pdf
Over the past two years in-person trainings for pesticide applicators to obtain recertification credits have been a challenge. To educate licensed pesticide applicators and help them to receive credits, a 3-hour seminar will be held on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 from 9:00AM to 12:00PM at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension office in Gloucester County, 254 County House Rd, Clarksboro, NJ 08020. The meeting will be in the Sullivan Room auditorium. Attendees can enter through the ramp on the far right side of the main building.
Presenter: Michelle Infante-Casella, Agricultural Agent
Schedule:
9:00 AM……………..Pesticide Storage Facilities and Pesticide Disposal
10:00 AM……………Pesticide Record Keeping, Notification, and Posting
10:30 AM……………Insect Identification and Life Cycles for Proper Control Strategies in Landscapes, Turf, and Farm Fields
11:00 AM…………….Weed Identification: Annuals and Perennials: Know Your Weeds in Landscapes, Turf and Farm Fields
11:30 AM…………….Common Plant Diseases of Major Crop/Plant Groups
12:00 PM …………….Pesticide Credits and Adjourn
The following credits have been assigned by NJ DEP:
3 – CORE Credits
3 – PP2 Credits
3 – 3A Credits
3 – 3B Credits
3 – 1A Credits
Call 856-224-8040 ext. 1 or email jmedany@co.gloucester.nj.us to pre-register or for more information.
There is a $50.00 fee per participant. Only checks or cash will be accepted. Please make checks payable to “Rutgers the State Univ. of NJ”
Pre-registration is appreciated, and walk-in participants are welcome and can pay at the door. To find more information see: https://go.rutgers.edu/Oct18PesticideSeminar
There are still positions available for seasonal, temporary worker(s) for the Rutgers Vegetable IPM program. The work entails checking insect traps and doing some field scouting with farms in southern New Jersey (Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cumberland, and Salem counties). There will be on-the-job
Corn earworm pheromone trap
training. Hourly wages are up to $20/hour, depending upon experience and/or areas of study. Applicants must have vehicles and will be reimbursed for mileage. For more details and to fill out an application, please go to https://jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/158384
Sweet Corn
European corn borer (ECB) moth catches continue to be extremely low around the state. We are in between adult generations at this time. ECB population maps will resume if second flight catches rise to high enough numbers.
The highest nightly trap catches of ECB for the week ending 07/20/22 are as follows:
| Allentown 1 | Old Bridge 1 |
| Dayton 1 | Sergeantsville 1 |
| Hillsborough 1 | South Branch 1 |
On July 18, 2022 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to extend the compliance dates for the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions as outlined in the recent 2021 agricultural water proposed rule.
The 2021 agricultural water proposed rule, if finalized, will require farms to conduct annual systems-based agricultural water assessments to determine and guide appropriate measures to minimize potential risks associated with pre-harvest agricultural water. The FDA is now proposing extended compliance dates for those proposed pre-harvest requirements and is also providing clarifying information about the enforcement discretion policy for the harvest and post-harvest agricultural water requirements.
The supplemental rulemaking proposes to establish the following compliance dates for the pre-harvest agricultural water requirements for covered produce other than sprouts:
Note: These compliance dates only go into effect when the rule is finalized which we have no information when that will occur!
Compliance Dates for Harvest and Post-Harvest Agricultural Water Requirements
The 2021 pre-harvest agricultural water proposed rule did not propose substantive changes to the harvest and post-harvest agricultural water requirements in the Produce Safety Rule; however, the FDA recognizes that prior to the proposal, stakeholders did not have clarity on whether FDA might propose to change the harvest and post-harvest agricultural water requirements. In addition, the FDA recognizes that adequate training and technical assistance are needed to fully recognize the benefits of the harvest and post-harvest requirements. Therefore, we intend to continue enforcement discretion for the harvest and post-harvest agricultural water requirements of the Produce Safety regulation until the following dates:
We are reopening the comment period only with respect to the proposed compliance dates for the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions until September 19, 2022. Comments should be submitted to docket FDA-2021-N-0471 on Regulations.gov.
As has been done with other FSMA rules, the FDA plans to take an “educate before and while we regulate” posture as we begin implementing the harvest and post-harvest requirements. For the first year of compliance, the FDA intends to work closely with state, other regulatory, and industry partners to advance training, technical assistance, educational visits and on-farm readiness reviews to prepare both growers and state regulators for implementing these provisions prior to initiating routine inspections verifying compliance. The FDA will provide further communications as additional resources become available.
Additional Information
