July 12, 2016

Greenhouse IPM update 7.12.16

Too hot to think?  I hope not as there is lots of new stuff out there.  Turn up the fan and start reading!

New York State’s Pollinator Protection Plan is finished! It took a lot of people a lot of time to create.  What does it mean for you?  It has Best Management Practices for a lot of groups including Pesticide Users, Landowners/Growers, State Agencies, and Beekeepers. It includes funding for pollinator protection and IPM, invasive species prevention and eradication and farmland protection, research and outreach. Check it out!

What’s out there and coming?
Cucurbit downy mildew confirmed in Ontario, Canada  – and a new article from Meg McGrath (search for 2016 or scroll down to Cucurbit downy mildew)
Spotted wing drosophila all over NYS
Basil downy mildew – south and central NJ
Late blight on tomatoes – in Maryland
Impatiens downy mildew – in Maryland (maybe it is raining there)
I guess there is at least one advantage to drought.

Are they horror movies or tales of redemption?  You decide when you watch Koppert Biologicals’ videos of biocontrol agents eating pests.

Might you have mites?  At least some of them like hot weather.  I have them on my hops!  Griffin’s GGSPro has an article on two spotted spider mite.
And John Sanderson will be covering cyclamen and broad mites at the IPM In-depth (need a reminder?  There’s still time to sign up!)

Feeling stuffed up? Learn to unclog your drip emitters.

Have something to say?  EPA has a 60 day comment period on some pesticide registration language on combating pesticide resistance.  Find out more.

Need information on pest management for specialty crops like lavender?  OMAFRA has a blog for you.

What’s new in research?
Using far-red and blue light to reduce intumescence (edema) on tomato.

Using milk jugs, pest lures and a ‘stun pill’ to trap and kill cucumber beetles (not greenhouse but cool)-  (but what is the buffalo gourd powder in there for?)

Alabama has a new High tunnel I-book and it is free!  Granted New York isn’t Alabama but it might have some useful information and did I mention – FREE!

 

Have a wonderful week!

July 12, 2016

Christmas tree IPM update 7.11.16

Ah, education season – again?! Juggling conferences is so much fun – as long as I remember which one I am talking about.

And relative to the Hudson Valley Twilight, we were discussing beetles and their raster patterns.  Sound interesting?  Well, looking at the back end of a grub can tell you who is feeding on your tree roots.  Brian found one on the farm and learned that grubs bite – how else did he think they were chewing up those roots!

An interesting question came in from a new grower, so I come to you, the experts.  Do you shear differently in a drought year?  The thought was not to remove so much of the branches if it would stress the trees.  I can come up with a physiological reason that removing more means less tissue to have to find water for.  But what is the REAL answer?  Let me know.

I get questions occasionally about changing from one DEC pesticide category to another when what growers are producing changes.  I found this website on a random ramble around the DEC webpages (isn’t that what you think I do when I am sitting in my office?) – Adding or dropping a category

Brian and I will be heading west to the CTFANY summer meeting on Thursday – Saturday.  We’ll have a table in the vendor area so bring us your questions (in sealed bags to protect the farm – but not so hot they turn to mush)

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