Plant & Pest Advisory

Rutgers University | New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station | Pesticide User Responsibility

March 30, 2014 Richard Buckley

Frosty Finally Melted Part 2

Despite a winter that tormented us, most plants did pretty well in the snow. While there was plenty of mechanical damage from several heavy snow storms, the snow accumulation actually protected many plants. Snow cover helped to prevent winter desiccation, particularly in plants lucky enough to have been buried, like turfgrass. It also kept the ground in […]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Plant Diagnostic Lab Tagged With: winter injury

March 27, 2014 Bill Bamka

Cold Winter Temperatures and Spring Insects

With the cold winter we have experienced this year, one of the first questions our growers are asking is what will the effect of the cold temperatures be on insect populations this spring. Unfortunately, as with many insect questions there is no easy answer. In some cases the colder temperatures will likely reduce populations of […]

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates

March 23, 2014 Brad Majek

Strawberry (matted row) Weed Control for Early Spring

Weed Control in matted row strawberries relies heavily on controlling weeds with preemergence herbicides and postemergence herbicides. Weeds are effectively controlled before they germinate or as small seedling growing vegetatively (before flowering). Late winter or early spring after the soil has thawed and winter annual broadleaf weeds have broken dormancy, but before strawberries begin to […]

Filed Under: Vegetable Crops

March 23, 2014 Richard Buckley

Frosty Finally Melted!

Last week, the cats from John Deere had me up to the northern tier of NY for John Deere University and we had a blizzard! This week I was in Lake Placid with my friends at NYSTA and the morning temperature was something like -7°F. All I could think of was “How do I get […]

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Plant Diagnostic Lab, Turf Tagged With: gray snow mold, snow mold

March 21, 2014 Andy Wyenandt

Organic Production: Suppressing Soil-borne Pathogens

Pathogens such as Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, Thielaviopsis and Rhizoctonia that cause pre- and post-emergent damping-off can cause serious problems in organic (and conventional) transplant production. The key to controlling and/or suppressing damping-off pathogens with biological controls is keeping the biological populations high and continually present on root surfaces of the host, and by following good […]

Filed Under: Organic Production, Vegetable Crops Tagged With: biological control, Organic Practices, transplant production

March 21, 2014 Brad Majek