Category Archives: Fertilizers and nutrition

January 7, 2018

Greenhouse IPM Update 1.7.18

My New Year’s resolution is to get these updates out regularly. Every resolution starts with one step, right?

Lots of education happening this month! We’ll all be geniuses!

Long Island Ag Forum – January 10-11, Riverhead Click to register

Capital District Bedding Plant Conference – January 11, 8-4 in Troy

2018 Empire State Producers Expo – January 16-18 in Syracuse – tons of sessions including Greenhouse and Cut Flower

Long Island Greenhouse and Floriculture Conference – January 16 Riverhead

If you want to travel a bit – 2018 Tri-State Greenhouse IPM Workshop registration until Jan 10
Jan 17- Manchester ME
Jan 18 – Durham NH
Jan 19 Burlington VT
It’s always a great meeting!

Coming in February:
Western NY Bedding Plant School – February 13, East Aurora

Hudson Valley Nursery and Greenhouse School – February 27
More information coming soon!

 

Don’t want to leave that warm corner of the sofa? Free e-GRO webinars starting January 19– nutrient monitoring, plant growth regulators ( I like that there is one on overdoses and getting back on track as we seem to see at least one of those every year) and lighting for ornamentals and edibles.

In-House Nutrient Monitoring

January 19, 2018
12:00 to 1:00 pm Eastern Time

PGR University: Focus on Perennials

January 25, 2018
12:00 noon to 1:00 pm Eastern Time

PGR University: Focus on Annuals

January 26, 2018
12:00 noon to 1:00 pm Eastern Time

Photoperiodic Responses and Lighting Strategies of Ornamental and Edible Crops

February 2, 2018
12:00 noon to 1:30 pm Eastern Time

If you know of some I have forgotten, send them along!

Now that we have survived the cyclone bomb, it’s time to get moving! Have a great week!

March 10, 2017

Greenhouse IPM update 3.10.17

Snow again!  And since they removed the Cornus mas from outside my window, I don’t have that friendly reminder of swelling buds to tell me spring is coming.  But it is, I know it IS!

Check those fertilizer injectors!  Who wants to find out they aren’t working by having plants show symptoms – and then trying to figure out why!  Thomas Ford in eGro says from his work “75% of the fertilizer injectors employed by growers in are greenhouses are not working properly”. We’ve already heard of one case in NY. Lots of information here.

Get the key to locking out pests (my, that’s kind of a stretch but it is Friday).  Leeane Pundt at UConn has a great post on key plants and key pests to help you inspect new plant material coming in and scouting it once it’s in your greenhouse.

Another on scouting guidelines and biocontrol options for the most common insects and diseases found in greenhouse crops.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words…illustrated scouting tips for lots of crops
– Ornamental crops
– Vegetable bedding plants
– Herb bedding plants
– Herbaceous perennials
– Identifying pests and beneficials on sticky cards
Go UConn!

Think (no) thrips!  UMass’ post on reviewing thrips biocontrol 

Webinars and more webinars…
Our series on high tunnel and greenhouse vegetable IPM continues to grow.  The most recent one was just posted!

OMAFRA’s greenhouse vegetable IPM specialist on Heating, Lighting and IPM
March 30, 2017
Using biofungicides, biostimulants, and biofertilizers to boost crop productivity and help manage vegetable diseases – not just greenhouse but perhaps still useful!

Bees are still in the news!  One study from England I read said that most varieties surveyed in garden centers were unattractive to pollinators (actually measuring the number of visits by pollinators at the garden center itself).  While still low, those with some notation as being friendly to bees had 4x as many visits.  Hopefully this listing would fare better –  Bee friendly trees and shrubs

Yes, but can they learn to dust?  Bees are smarter than we thought – or else maybe they are training us.  Hmmm….

Courage in the face of cold!  It will be warm again!

September 13, 2016

Greenhouse IPM update 9.13.16

Ah, long falls – the climatic type, not the tripping down stairs type – and Indian summer….

I’ll start out with something just for pretty – we are (all?) plant geeks after all –
You can come visit the new conservatory when you are on campus!

Those new WPS rules – need help?  DEC is running some mock WPS inspections in October to help.  Oct 5 at Dickman Farms in Auburn, 9:30-12:00. No registration fee and no need to pre-register.  2 DEC credits for 1a, 1d, 10, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.  Oct 19 in Riverhead and Oct 26th in Lockport. Let me know if you need more information.

ProMix/Premier Tech Grower Videos – some useful topics like roles of nutrients in plant growth, calibrating pH and EC meters, and how to determine if your media is too old.

Tunnel Vision – what’s going on in tunnels these days?
Need something different in your high tunnels or greenhouses?  Try TunnelBerries (not sure if that is a great marketing name…).  Production guides, economics, and how to build and even recycle the plastic from tunnels.  (Check out the blog and you can find Cornell’s Marvin Pritts pictured)

And the University of Kentucky has a new IPM Scouting Guide for High Tunnel and Greenhouse Vegetable Crops.

September is flying by – still have plants to get in the garden!

Have a great week!

August 18, 2016

Greenhouse IPM Update 8.18.16

There are about 15 almost completed updates on my computer.  I have vowed to finish one today!  Ah, summer.

Deer-leerious plants?  That sounds like a deer approved program but it is really a marketing method for plants deer don’t like. Want the home grown angle?  Listen to Mark Bridgen’s talk from the Floriculture Field Day  and see his list of tried and true plants that make deer say ‘Yuck!’

And while you are there, check out the other videos from the Floriculture Field Day.  Carol Miller on Retail Changes, Connie Schmotzer on Pollinator Friendly Landscapes, and Paul Curtis on Deer Management – and the associated handouts and resources (scroll to the bottom).  Next year you should be there in person!

It’s been HOT (had you noticed?).  What do your plants think, and how can you tell?  You can measure crop temperatures with an infrared thermometer.  Connection to pest management?  Some insects and diseases – and beneficials – have temperature optima so finding literal hot spots in the greenhouse might answer the question of why they are pest hot spots.

Pumping iron!  We usually think about iron when we see deficiency symptoms in the spring crops. So while you are relaxing (!) this summer, here’s an article from Premier Tech Hort on the role of iron in plant growth so you’ll be ready next year!

New aphids?  Actually chrysanthemum aphid isn’t new but you don’t see it in the greenhouse much because – the main point in its favor – its only host is chrysanthemum! But as many aphids increase in number faster in warmer weather (and the best information I can find says the same about this aphid) and you may see distortion of foliage with chrysanthemum aphid, its a good idea to go scout those plants today!  (remember to check NYS labels for anything mentioned in this article)

And to give the plant pathologists equal time… how to control downy mildew on a variety of crops.  Since it has started raining again (at least around Ithaca) downy mildew is happy again.

Keeping up with pop culture!  Hey, if it sells plants . . .  And these critters sort of look like bugs.  Using Pokemon GO in your garden center.   Just watch out for players walking into things…..

Hurray!  I did it.  More soon.

March 23, 2016

Greenhouse IPM Update 3.23.16

I just figured out how to hyperlink in my emails.  I’m quite the dinosaur!  Click on the blue words to get the link if you are a dinosaur like me.  Let me know if it doesn’t work for you!

It’s a rove beetle eat predacious mite world out there.  Great information from Sarah Jandricic (OMAFRA) on how to keep your thrips beneficials from eating each other!

A little early nursery scouting might be in order – things they are already seeing in Ontario – Bagworms, Viburnum leaf beetle egg masses, and gypsy moth egg masses.

Lots of information from Tina Smith at UMass and Leanne Pundt at UConn
Keeping an eye on those calis. Calibrachoa troubleshooting for diseases and disorders

Tackling thrips with bios and pesticides (remember to check for NYS labels on any pesticides)  Lots of other resources linked to this report.

Be nice to your nematodes.   This article makes the point about not storing nematodes in a refrigerator that is opened frequently.  Another temperature shock could be mixing chilled nematodes with too warm water.  Not sure we have the research on this yet, but it makes sense.

What are those strange lumps?  It could be crown gall – found on some lobelias this spring. It is caused by a bacterium and can be spread by water splashing, although it needs an entry point to get into the plant.  No good control so add it to your scouting list.

Do you have a pH and/or EC (electrical conductivity) meter stashed in your greenhouse that you last used last season?  It probably needs to be recalibrated.  Have you ever done that?  Here’s how!

And to go along with that – a short webinar on Diagnosing low substrate pH problems from Brian Whipker at NC State on Friday March 25.

To keep Margery happy – lovely photos of Thielaviopsis – and how to avoid having your own.

Where have all the archived updates gone?  Well, NYS IPM is in the process of getting a new website and we consolidated all the updates into one blog to archive them  Coming soon!

’Tis the season for greenhouse information!  From my email to yours.  Have a good week!