Below are the locations and dates for recycling pesticide containers in New Jersey. Individuals dropping off containers (triple rinsed, holes drilled in bottom of container or slit with a knife & sans paper booklet on container) may do so during business hours and can pick up the form with a stamped self-addressed envelope to mail NJDA to confirm participation. Completed form must be returned to NJDA. Individuals with a valid NJ DEP Pesticide Applicators Licenses will receive 1 CORE point PER CALENDAR YEAR when confirming participation in this program.
More information can be found at www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/anr/nrc/processingsteps.html
Salem County
Helena Chemical, 440 N. Main St., Woodstown, NJ
Friday, April 19
Friday, May 17
Friday, June 21
Friday, August 23
Friday, September 20
Friday, October 18
Atlantic County
Helena Chemical, 66 Route 206 (North of the Route 30/206 intersection) Hammonton, NJ
Friday, April 12
Friday, May 10
Friday, June 14
Thursday, July 12
Friday, August 16
Friday, September 13
Friday, October 11
Monmouth County
Rutgers Fruit and Ornamental Research Extension Center
283 Route 539, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514-9634
Friday, April 26
Friday, May 24
Friday, June 28
Friday, July 26
Friday, August 30
Friday, September 27
Friday, October 25
Items that Will Not Be Accepted and Will Be Returned to the Participant:
• Pesticide containers with dried formulation on the container, pour spout or the spout threads
• Pesticide containers with any liquid residue
• Pesticide containers where the insides are caked with dried residue
• Mini-bulk, saddle tanks and nurse tanks, which can be made of fiberglass
• Pesticide containers with lids
• Containers that held any type of petroleum oil product or antifreeze
Non-Waxy Cardboard:
Helena Chemical will also be accepting non-waxy cardboard 1 p.m. to 3 p.m and during the scheduled pesticide container collection times. The clean non-waxy cardboard must be broken down and flattened. Cardboard delivered to the Atlantic County site must be tied.
Clean Non-waxy cardboard will also be accepted year-round at the Cumberland County Solid Waste Complex’s Convenience Center.
More information can be found at: www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/anr/nrc/processingsteps.html
Organic Farm Advisory
The Plant & Pest Advisory serves NJ growers by reporting on important pests and recommending responses that are grounded in reproducible trials.
Articles in this section contain information helpful to the NJ commercial organic grower.
Sharing organic practice trial results between land-grant universities is a cost effective way to create a common knowledge base built on the strengths of individual programs. In the sidebar, find institutions with programs in organic agriculture which augment knowledge developed at the Rutgers New Jersey Ag Experiment Station.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Field Guides: These concise guides help with decision making from pre-planting to harvest. For each crop listed, learn what pests to proactively look for as the season progresses, how to look for them, and when to take action.
Locations for NJ Pesticide Recycling Containers – 2024
Allium leaf miner update: 03/25/24
Allium Leaf Miner (ALM)
Many weather stations on the NEWA network except for typical colder sites in northern New Jersey have surpassed 250 growing degree days (GDD) base 39˚F. 39˚F is close to the lower developmental temperature (38.3˚ F) which our colleagues at Penn State recommend for predicting the first emergence of ALM adults. In recent years, initial feeding/egg laying scars have been detected within a few days of local weather stations recording the 250 GDD threshold. Growers who feel they may be impacted by this pest should check the accumulated GDD from local weather stations. Growers in southern counties may reasonably assume there will be ALM activity in their area soon, if not already happening. To determine GDD from local weather stations, the NEWA website https://newa.cornell.edu/ is very helpful. From the NEWA home screen, select the nearest weather station from drop down menu at the center of the page. Next, scroll down to “Weather Tools” on the right side of the page, and select “DD Calculator”. Select your start date (1/01/24) and end date as well as Degree Day Type (39 F) from the menu at the left of the page. The site will automatically generate the accumulated GDD base 39F to the last day of your requested sample, and then offer a forecast of accumulated GDD for the next week. If you should select 1˚C, then the DD accumulation should be 350.
Photo: Sabrina Tirpak. Allium leaf miner oviposition scars on onion
Growers should consider initiating the control method of their choice at this time, if any allium crops are in the field. Affected crops include chives, scallions, garlic, onions and leeks. Look for neat rows of white spots descending from the upper tips of allium leaves (see photo at left). Initial injury often occurs on the tallest leaves. Under warmer, less breezy conditions, adults may be seen near the tips of leaves (see photo of adult at lower right). Perennial chive beds are often the first, and most heavily infested alliums of the spring season, so this makes chives an ideal crop to confirm ALM adult activity.
Floating row covers, kept on until this flight ends will help minimize access to plants. Insecticide applications targeting adults may be helpful as well, although frequency of applications is uncertain. Spinosyn materials (Radiant, Entrust (OMRI approved)), pyrethroids (Mustang Maxx, 
Warrior), neonicotinoids (Scorpion, Venom), the diamide Exirel (section 2ee recommendation) and the insect growth regulator Trigard are labeled for miner control.
Adult activity and observations of feeding will be reported on in the IPM Update as they occur.
NJ DEP issues Open Burn Permit through Tuesday, March 26, 2024
To Agriculture and Agribusiness Representatives:
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is issuing this notice concerning open burning due to colder spring overnight temperatures presently forecasted for areas of New Jersey from Tuesday, March 19, through Tuesday, March 26, 2024, which could adversely affect fruit, vegetable, and floriculture crops in bloom or near bloom around the state. The DEP intends to exercise its authority and discretion under the Air Pollution Control Code, N.J.A.C. 7:27, et seq., and other applicable authorities to permit the following procedure for open burning or the use of smudge pots to assist farmers to protect their crops in low temperatures. These cold events could adversely affect some of the fruit, vegetable, and floriculture crops. [Read more…]
USDA Webinar on Updates to the USDA Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices and GAP Plus+ Audit Standards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will hold a webinar on the updates to the USDA Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and GAP Plus+ audit standards.
April 5, at 1 p.m. ET
These updates become effective May 1, 2024, and will allow AMS’ GAP audit services to remain applicable and relevant for its specialty crops industry customers.
The USDA Harmonized GAP and GAP Plus+ audit standards will be updated to align with the Produce GAPs Harmonized Combined Standard. Updates will include:
- Adding more consistent language and reducing redundancy.
- New requirements relating to water treatment, recall program, soil amendments, and maintenance.
For more information on the updates to the standards or the webinar, contact Jill Dunlop, AMS Audit Services Branch, at Jill.Dunlop@usda.gov.
Endangered Species Act: What will soon change for pesticide labelling and uses?
Endangered Species Act and Pesticides: How will pesticide labels change to protect endangered species?
Wednesday, March 20 at 11 a.m – Webinar
Enacted in 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires all federal agencies to consider the impact to threatened and endangered species and their critical habitat when making decisions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has faced numerous lawsuits for its failure to consider the Act when issuing pesticide registrations—resulting in a 2023 commitment from the Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs that puts the ESA at the forefront of all future registrations and some registration renewals.
The NYS IPM program at Cornell will be hosting Dr. Bill Chism, Chair of the Endangered Species Act Committee for the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), to give a webinar on March 20th (at 11 a.m.) with the following objectives:
- • Inform us about the history of Endangered Species Act (ESA),
- Discuss the requirements of all Federal agencies to comply with the ESA,
- Describe the EPA’s current workplan (including the proposed Herbicide Strategy) to meet their statutory obligations,
- Explains what this might mean for future pesticide labeling efforts.
Registration: Endangered Species Act and Pesticides: An Example | CALS (cornell.edu)
About the Speaker
Bill Chism is the chair of the Endangered Species Act Committee of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA). He retired after more than two decades with the EPA, where he conducted assessments on the benefits of pesticides to farmers as part of the registration review process. Bill grew up working on a vegetable farm in the Salinas Valley of California. He worked in extension researching weed control research on vegetable crops before earning his PhD in Weed Science from Virginia Tech and spent 10 years working for a pesticide registrant.
Four Water Samples Required for Harvest and Post-Harvest Water Under Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule
Growers that have been testing their wells for years have been asking us if that historical data would meet the four-sample requirement for FSMA for the first year and the answer we got from the FDA is NO.
What that means for you:
For harvest and post-harvest water, you are required to test each well for non-detectable generic E. coli four times in the first year. If all initial results meet the numerical requirements of 112.44(a) (no detectable generic E. coli per 100 ml) then you are only required to test those harvest and post-harvest water wells once a year moving forward.
The four-sampling requirement is now in effect for operations over $250,000 and smaller operations ($25,000-250,000) will be required starting in January 2025. Remember not all wells need to be tested four times. It is only water from wells used in harvesting or in the packing area which come in direct contact with the produce or the harvesting and packing equipment during cleaning and sanitizing.
Here is the answer we got from the FDA:
“As farms come into compliance with harvest and post-harvest agricultural water requirements, those growers who are using untreated ground water for the purposes of 112.44(a) must test the water 4x per year initially. If all initial results meet the numerical requirements of 112.44(a) (no detectable generic E. coli per 100 ml), then the grower may reduce the testing frequency to one sample year, as long as the agricultural water continues to be reflective of use. FDA may consider guidance on what growers might be able to do with historical data as compliance and implementation guidance is developed.”
