ornamental horticulture — Plant & Pest Advisory

September 8, 2025 Tim Waller

Final two Ornamental IPM Webinars 9/9 (Ticks 4 Science) and 9/23 (final pest updates for 2025) + 8/26 webinar upload

Join us for the next session Tuesday 9/9/25

Emily Fontaine (Project Manager, Rutgers NJ Ticks 4 Science)

Still time to Sign up (click here) for the two remaining 2025 sessions- Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program
Please visit our new –Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program Website (click here)

Previous webinars:

Filed Under: Christmas Trees, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery Tagged With: 2025 Christmas tree IPM, 2025 nursery IPM, container production, field nursery, IPM, IPM Updates, ornamental horticulture, Ornamental IPM Program, ornamentals, tick diseases, ticks

May 12, 2025 Tim Waller

Ornamental IPM – Blight and pest alerts – next IPM Session 5/13/25

Serious potential for Boxwood Blight
Bronze Birch Borer (BBB) approaching adult emergence
Clearwing Borer adult flight – time to monitor
Red-headed flea beetle (RHFB) egg hatch – adult emergence soon
Oomycete material considerations
(click the ‘Read More’ below for complete dates in S-C-Northern NJ per pest)

Still time to Sign up for the 2025 – Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program

(Join us for the next Session Tuesday 5/13/25)

Note we have Clearwing borer lures and wing or delta traps, scale crawler tape, and yellow sticky cards available to commercial grower program members at our Cumberland (twaller@njaes.rutgers.edu) and Monmouth (william.errickson@njaes.rutgers.edu) RCE offices.

Click here for a PDF of April 22, 2025 webinar (contains information on RHFB and early Clearwing borer treatments) Click here for VIDEO of April 22, 2025 webinar
Click here for a PDF of April 08, 2025 webinar (Contains information on aphids and boxwood leafminer) Click here for VIDEO of April 08, 2025 webinar

March 31, 2025 Tim Waller and William Errickson

Register for the NEW – 2025 Ornamental IPM Program PLUS Boxwood Blight, Pest emergence, Updates

Ornamental IPM 2025 v1 flyer

Please consider signing up for the NEW 2025 – Rutgers Ornamental IPM Program.

The focus of this program is to provide timely updates on pest, disease, and weeds impacting commercial ornamental producers. The webinars will focus on the most important pests for a 2 week interval, will be recorded, and will be shared shortly thereafter with Spanish overdub (spoken word). The trap packages are in an effort to find grower led solutions for monitoring economically important pests throughout the multiple regions of New Jersey. Please consider joining this program for its inaugural year.

Registration includes:

Site visit to your ornamental nursery/farm from Rutgers agents
Delivered printed IPM resources (Guides, factsheets, bulletins)
Free pheromone & sticky trap kit + guidance on setup/monitoring
Access to live bi-weekly webinars (Zoom)
(First session NEXT TUESDAY 4/8 @ 12PM)
Every Second and Fourth, Tuesday, April through September
Webinars will be recorded – posted later with Spanish overdub

This program is free, however registration is required.

click here to Register

Boxwood Blight Risk Assessment as of 3/4/2025
Region	Location	CODE	31-March	1-April	2-April	3-April	4-April	5-April
Southern	Upper Deerfield	NJ50	Very Low	Very Low	Very Low	Low	Minor Risk	Very Low
Central	Howell / Freehold	NJ10	Minor Risk	Very Low	Very Low	Low	Minor Risk	Very Low
Northern	Wantage	NJ79	Low	Very Low	Very Low	Low	Risk	Very Low
			M	T	W	TH	F	S
Please check YOUR LOCAL risk (click here)

Please download and print the Rutgers Nursery and Landscape Pest Scouting Guide or Conifer and Christmas Tree Pest Scouting Guide and refer to this post “Obtaining your local growing degree-days (GDD)” for additional information. (See pest scouting guides for complete list of references)

Please SHARE what you SEE!! If you see a pest, disease, otherwise interesting or troublesome issue please report it to the Working Group by following the QR Code on the front of the Pest Scouting Guides or by filling out this reporting form.

Keep reading for more resources!

December 26, 2024 Rick VanVranken

Ever Consider Rutgers Master Gardener Program?

Rutgers Master Gardener 2025 Registration The Rutgers Master Gardener Program offers an intensive horticulture training to people interested in improving their gardening skills and giving back by helping to teach others. RMG ‘volunteers’ attend a series of classes in basic to intermediate horticulture, soils, fertility, pest and plant diagnosis, and management skills. In turn, they help their local County Rutgers Cooperative Extension office extend their outreach to the community by answering gardening questions on call-in/walk-in helplines or at community events; teach classes; and develop and implement demonstration gardens.

The 2025 class is open now and actively recruiting to begin classes in a couple of weeks. There is still room available if you or you know someone (garden center/farm market employees and/or customers, nursery/landscape business employees) who might be interested. Feel free to post this in your stores or pass it on to anyone you think might like to give it a try. More information is available via the QR code or go to https://go.rutgers.edu/RMG2025.

https://go.rutgers.edu/RMG2025

Filed Under: Commercial Ag Updates, Landscape, Nursery, & Turf Tagged With: certifi, gardening, horticulture, ornamental horticulture, Rutgers Master Gardeners, training

February 2, 2024 William Errickson

2024 Central Jersey Turf and Ornamental Institute

March 6, 8:30am to 4:00 pm

Monmouth County Agricultural Building

4000 Kozloski Rd. Freehold , NJ 07728

Registration: $75

(includes coffee, light refreshments in the morning and lunch)

Available Pesticide Credits:
Core – 2 units
2- 3 units
3A- 5 units
3B- 5 units
3C- 1 unit
6B- 3 units
8C- 6 units
8A- 1 unit
9- 3 units
10- 6 units
PP2- 5 units

ProFACT NJ Certified Fertilizer Applicator
2 Credits Available

To register, contact Cathy VanBenschoten at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth County Office

732-431-7260 or email at Catherine.VanBenschoten@co.monmouth.nj.us

Click the link below for the full registration form:

CJTOI Brochure 2024

There is no online registration. This event is cash, check or purchase order only.

Make checks payable to: Rutgers, the State University of NJ

Mail to: Cathy VanBenschoten

4000 Kozloski Road

Freehold, NJ 07728

This annual event is brought to you by Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth, Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington, Ocean & Somerset Counties. Seminar topics will benefit those who work in grounds maintenance including school board members, maintenance supervisors, employees of highways, parks, cemeteries, industrial grounds, lawn & home ground services, garden center operators and nurserymen.

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 AM Registration/Sign-in

9:00 – 9:30 AM Scouting and Diagnosing Common Disease Problems in Turf and Ornamentals – William Errickson – Monmouth County Agricultural Agent

9:30 – 10:00 AM Innovations in Weed Management – Matthew Elmore Ph.D. – Extension Specialist in Weed Science

10:00 – 11:00 AM Pesticide Safety Regulations and Updates – George Hamilton Ph.D. – Extension Specialist in Pest Management

11:00 – 11:15 AM Break

11:15 – 12:15 PM Managing Invasive Plants – Michele Bakacs – Middlesex County Natural Resources Agent

12:15 – 1:00 PM LUNCH

1:00 – 1:30 PM Mosquito and Tick Problems in New Jersey: Identification, Management, and Protection for Green Industry Professionals – Emily Fontaine and Dina Fonseca Ph.D. – Program Associate and Professor, Chair Dept. of Entomology

1:30- 2:30 pm Sustainable Turfgrass Fertility Management – Bradley Park- Researcher in Turfgrass Management

2:30 – 3:00 PM Invasive Insects & Ecological Balance – Steve Rettke – IPM Program Associate

3:00 PM Course Evaluation, Pesticide Credits

Filed Under: Landscape, Nursery, & Turf, Nursery, Turf Tagged With: educaiton, Invasive species, IPM, Landscape, ornamental horticulture, pesticide safety, ticks, turfgrass

April 4, 2023 Tim Waller

HIGH potential for Boxwood Blight this Thursday 4/6

There is a potential for boxwood blight infections this WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY throughout much of NJ – especially central regions. Thursday’s high temperatures coupled with prolonged periods of leaf wetness overnight will contribute to the spread of boxwood blight infections.

If BWB is important to your business – Use the USPEST – PUSH Alerts – (click here) – to setup weekly email alerts. Create an account, watch the tutorial, and then set up your subscriptions. You select which locations (as many as you like), days you want to receive emails (pick Sunday/Monday), and what you would like to receive alerts about (BWB and a variety of other pests and diseases). Rutgers is not directly affiliated, however this is an incredible tool.

It is time to begin protective fungicide applications in high value areas if you have not already done so!
Protective fungicide applications should remain in effect or be initiated immediately for Boxwood Blight in “Infection risk or High Risk areas”.
If your area is not listed (throughout all of NJ please visit the USPEST.ORG Boxwood Blight Risk Model – CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR LOCAL PREDICTIONS

Boxwood Blight risk-model information, considerations, and links:

Boxwood Blight Risk Assessment as of 4/4/2022
Region	Location	CODE	3-Apr	4-Apr	5-Apr	6-Apr	7-Apr	8-Apr
Southern	Upper Deerfield	NJ50	Very Low	Low	Minor Risk	Very Low	Very Low	Very Low
Central	Howell / Freehold	NJ10	Very Low	Low	Minor Risk	Very High	Very Low	Very Low
Northern	High Point	NJ59	Very Low	Very Low	Low	High Risk	Very Low	Very Low
			*Monday*	*Tuesday*	*Wednesday*	*Thursday*	*Friday*	*Saturday*
Please check YOUR LOCAL risk (click here)