February 24, 2018

Greenhouse Vegetable IPM update

I suspect you are all hard at it as the days warm up and we dream of eating things other than root vegetables!

e-GRO is an online source of electronic grower resources. They publish a series called Edible Alerts (but please don’t try to eat them). The most recent IPM oriented are on magnesium deficiency of hydroponic and container grown basil and pythium root rot on hydroponically grown basil and spinach (by our own Neil Mattson).

Don’t worry if you aren’t growing in containers or hydroponically, there are lots of other posts that may apply. You can find them all here.

 

Have a great week!

February 22, 2018

Christmas tree IPM update 2.22.18

I hope you are all sitting with your feet up – briefly – until the scouting etc. season starts.

Or maybe now you are ready to get out there and get started for this year. The weather at the beginning of the week might have helped. But it was also warm enough that ticks were out questing. NYS IPM’s Joellen Lampman posted on our blog with lots of useful tick information

It’s also time to start planning . . .
WPS training requirements have changed. Be sure you know what is required in terms of who can do the training and how it must be presented. Lots of resources are available from the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative including the appropriate training videos

Don’t forget to sign up for Branching Out  There’s a clickable subscription form and more information.

And you can contact Sarah Pickel to get on her scouting email list from PA at c-sapickel@pa.gov (Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture | Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street | Hbg PA 17110, Phone: 717.772.5227 | Fax: 717.705.6518)

We are planning, too. Brian and Amara have been planning our new Christmas tree and beneficial insect habitat demonstration trials. They got the soil samples before the snow started again.

 

February 16, 2018

Greenhouse IPM update 2.16.18

Did you miss me? I was in India for 3 weeks – quite the experience! I did get to a flower market and saw HUGE numbers of marigolds strung into garlands used for religious and decorative reasons. I guess that isn’t really work!

Broad mites – ugh! Hard to see and cause leaf curling and worse. At the meeting in WNY this week an alarming number of people said they had seen them (or the damage they cause) and the incidence seems to be increasing. Probably why the GGS Pro Tech Tip is on broad mites this week.  Also, Dan Gilrein’s article in Greenhouse Management from 2009 (always ahead of the curve, is Dan).  Remember to make sure suggested pesticides are labeled for NYS.

Planning on having thrips? A 6 part series of videos and articles from Greenhouseipm.org walks you through thrips IPM so you can plan not to have thrips.

WPS training requirements have changed. Be sure you know what is required in terms of who can do the training and how it must be presented.  Lots of resources are available from the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative  including the appropriate training videos

Feeling like a trip yourselves? Several meetings in Canada coming up.
Vineland Ontario Feb 23 – Greenhouse IPM: Achieving Sustainable Biocontrol

Thiel’s Greenhouse, Bruderheim Alberta Feb 28 – Beyond Sticky Traps: Leveling up your greenhouse biocontrol

The 2018 Cornell Pest Management Guide for Commercial Production and Maintenance of Trees and Shrubs is available now! Print and online available from the Cornell Bookstore.