EVELYNN is a new, excellent, semi-free stone with a firm, yellow-fleshed peach variety. It is a low-acid, sweet to very sweet peach that ripens with Redhaven. Fruit is large, uniform, and has attractive, complete scarlet coloring, with smooth, low pubescence skin. It retains firmness on trees and during storage for longer than Redhaven, giving extra days for marketing the fruit. This variety is consistently productive and exhibits a low susceptibility to bacterial spot and split pits. Fruit skin doesn’t develop ‘inking’ even when it turns dark red. Bloom is generally delayed and extended, and, as a result, it produces a normal crop even in the frost years. Few varieties tick as many boxes as Evelynn. The fruit characteristics of Evelynn and other popular varieties in this season are compared in Table 1. [Read more…]
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.
Subscriptions are available via EMAIL and RSS.
Quick Links:
NJ Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations
Rutgers Weather Forecasting - Meteorological Information important to commercial agriculture.
Late July Peach Varieties for New Jersey – New and Standard
Late-July Nectarine Varieties for New Jersey – New and Standard
BRIGANTINE is a new yellow-fleshed nectarine with semi-freestone, ripening July 20-25, just before ‘Summer Beaut’ and ‘Redhaven’. It has a full, glossy scarlet coloring with a slight golden-yellow background. Fruit skin is consistently free from blemishes. It has a nice, sweet, and acidic flavor, and firm, melting flesh. Flesh has traces of red. This is a very productive tree with low susceptibility to bacterial spot, while the fruit has slight to moderate susceptibility to bacterial spot. Fruit hangs well. Fruit characteristics of Brigantine and other late-July nectarines are listed below in Table 1. [Read more…]
Quick reviews of fungicide chemistries, FRAC groups, and fungicide resistance management
Did you know that first EBDC fungicide was registered for use in vegetable crops in 1964 followed by chlorothalonil in 1966. Historically speaking, the first New Jersey Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide was produced in 1969 and was only 33 pages long (it’s 502 pages now). Things have changed significantly over the past 55 years when it comes to pest management! For a quick review on fungicides, FRAC groups, and managing fungicide resistance development please click on the links below.
Using tank mixes and fungicide rotations and information on FRAC group 4, FRAC group 7, and FRAC group 3 and FRAC group 11 fungicides.
As a reminder, the new 2024-2025 Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations Guide can be purchased at most county offices and is also available for FREE on-line here!
Identifying and controlling leaf mold in high tunnel & greenhouse tomato production
Leaf mold occasionally appears in high tunnel or greenhouse tomato production in New Jersey. However, under ideal conditions the disease will develop in field-grown crops. The fungus will cause infection under prolonged periods leaf wetness and when relative humidity remains above 85%. If relative humidity is below 85% the disease will not occur. Therefore, the proper venting of high tunnels and greenhouses on a regular basis is important. The pathogen can survive (overwinter) as a saprophyte on crop debris or as sclerotia in the soil. Conidia (spores) of the fungus can also survive up to one year in the soil.
Symptoms of leaf mold on infected tomato plant. Note bright yellow leaves and olive-green spores developing on undersides of leaves.
What’s up with corn smut!
There have been numerous reports of corn smut throughout the state of New Jersey the past few weeks.
Corn smut (also called common smut), caused by Ustilago maydis, is found infecting corn throughout most of the world. In most years, corn smut is reported in New Jersey , but reports are limited to just a few plantings and just a few ears of corn. Corn smut gets its name from the sooty, black masses of teliospores that found on infected plants. Symptoms are tumor-like galls that vary in size from less than 1 cm to more than 30 cm in diameter. All meristematic tissues are susceptible to infection; and galls can develop on ears, tassels, stalks, shoots, and mid-ribs of infected plants (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006). From the time of infection, it takes about 10 days for early symptoms to show up; followed up with a maturation of black spore masses within swollen galls about three weeks after infection (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Corn smut.
The fungus can overwinter as teliospores in crop debris or the soil and remain viable for many years. It is thought that the teliospores (i.e. the black spores – it is estimated that up to 200 billion spores are produced in a medium-size gall!) are unimportant in the summer they are produced, but more importantly act to overwinter and cause infections the next growing season (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006) .
There is no general agreement on weather conditions that are most favorable for common smut, although most reports indicate that common smut is prevalent following rainy, humid weather (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006). Galls on leaves and stalks of seedlings often are observed following strong thunderstorms with heavy winds, especially when plants are injured by blowing soil (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006). Factors that reduce the production of pollen or inhibit pollination also increase the occurrence of ear galls of common smut. Thus, hot, dry, drought-like conditions often cause asynchronous pollen production and silk emergence which results in poor pollination and common smut may be prevalent if U. maydis is readily disseminated to stigmas of unfertilized ovaries during or immediately following these hot, dry conditions (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006). Thus, some associate the occurrence of ear galls with droughts although the droughts probably affect the prevalence of ear galls primarily by increasing the number of unpollinated ovaries with rapidly growing silks (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006).
Although there has been a great amount of research in controlling corn smut with fungicides (c0nventional and biological), adjusting fertility, crop rotation, sanitation, and seed treatments, the best management practice for limiting losses due to corn smut are planting smut resistant corn varieties (Pataky and Snetselaar, 2006). Although, none are completely resistant to the pathogen.
Unfortunately, for much of New Jersey this summer the weather conditions (the extended drought-like conditions in July) followed by the heavy isolated rains leading most likely to poor pollination periods and timing of corn smut infections led to the situation we are seeing now. Growers with significant smut issues might consider removing and destroying smutted ears to reduce inoculum loads, plan on choosing sweet corn varieties with resistance next year, and changing irrigation practices to help reduce crop stress during pollination periods.
References:
Pataky, J. and Snetselaar, K. 2006. Common smut of corn (Syn. boil smut, blister smut). Plant Disease Profiles, The Plant Health Instructor. Volume 6. <doi.org/10.1094/PHI-I-2006-0927-01>
For more detailed information on corn smut, it’s biology, and history please see the link to the following article referenced above by Jerald Pataky and Karen Snetselaar at The Plant Health Instructor Website hosted by APS.
https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/disandpath/fungalbasidio/pdlessons/Pages/CornSmut.aspx
Diagnosing pith necrosis in tomato
Symptoms usually begin to appear on random plants throughout the field as green fruit begins to mature. The bacterium (Pseudomonas corrugata) is ubiquitous to soils and develops when weather conditions (cooler nights/very hot, humid days) and cultural practices (i.e., excess heavy N use) lead to favorable conditions for disease development. Symptoms include the development of irregular greasy (at first), brown lesions on main stems and branches. Late pruning (i.e., suckering) can provide entry points for the bacterial disease. Internally, stems will become chocolate brown and mushy. High humidity is necessary for disease development. High nitrogen and lower night temperatures are associated with Pith Necrosis development, where it has been reported around the state this past week. Control begins with cultural practices such as avoiding working in fields with wet foliage, avoiding late pruning, tying when plants are wet, and watching the amount of N applied to plantings. Infected plants can be rouged from field and most often it does not spread to nearby uninfected plants.
