UConn Extension IPM Pest Message for Friday, July 18, 2014 We are experimenting with a grower-written pest report this summer. Reports from growers will be edited, compiled and posted/distributed on Fridays. [Comments or answers provided by Jude Boucher, UConn Extension, will appear in brackets.] Steve Bengtson, Cold Spring Brook Farm, Berlin, CT There are no corn ear worm moths to report this week. Both traps were empty on both days they were checked. Lures are fresh and the traps are set up in fresh silking corn. Any possibility of defective lures? [Trust the force Luke! Your lures are working there are just not many CEW around. No need to spray silking corn.] ECB I (Z) = 0 Trap was loaded with at least 100 Japanese Beetles. I don t remember seeing this before. [Must be a host plant near the trap]. ECB II (E) trap had 2 moths that appeared to be the same size as ECB moths, however they were much whiter than usual. I have enclosed a photo for possible ID [Yes, they are ECB]. If these are ECB moths, then the total for this week would be 2, same as last week. Scouting corn fields resulted in 0%-4% infestation in fields ranging from whorl stage top pre-tassel. FAW trap contained 1 moth. In scouting corn I have not seen any FAW damage so far. Pepper Maggot trap had no sign of the flies. Scouting cherry peppers showed no stings this week. Beans had just a small amount of leaf hoppers present, and a small amount of Japanese beetles as well. If the Japanese beetles persist do you have a recommendation of which chemical to use? {JB don t usually damage snap bean enough to worry about.] Lacinato kale is infested with flea beetles and some of the redbor and winterbor are beginning to show some infestation. Mustang is listed for kale with a 1 day to harvest interval. Do you have a preferable chemical to use? [Any synthetic pyrethroid will do, or Sevin XLR. PyGanic or Entrust for organic growers.] Early blight is spreading especially in our plum tomato field. I am planning to try Switch for my next spray. It has a 1 day to harvest interval which will be good because we are now harvesting fruit. [I have no efficacy data on this product at this time]. My workers removed Phytopthora infested pepper plants this week, and we broke the beds in a few hot spots where several plants went down. I am continuing to inject Presidio, Revus and Zampro rotating every 10 to 14 days. Peppers show up with phytopthora symptoms just about every day, especially after a rainy period however it is only a small amount of plants. Injection does seem to be helping the crop to survive.
I tried an injection of Zampro on my pumpkin and winter squash field. I m interested to see if it will work. Fred Monahan, Stone Garden Farms, Shelton, CT CEW=.75/night ECB= Both my traps are worn out, time for new ones, so I am counting on others scouting reports PT corn had 30% ECB LW corn 22% ECB and looked like some FAW damage too Talking with Tony Good from Caro-Vail, he was scouting a 130 acre non GMO field corn field 10 miles north of New Paltz New York it had 75% ECB [Wow, those are late infestations of borer keep scouting] No scarecrows no propane cannons only Birdshield for bird damage on sweet corn and no bird damage. Coincidence or not, I don t know. [No Birdshield and similar products work] Last year I had Downy Mildew on cukes on July 15 nothing yet this year [North Carolina Extension DM forecasting site shows the closest infections as NC and MI no risk in CT] Saw some whitefly on tomatoes we are starting to pick, very little so no action taken yet [usually only a problem if you wipe out or exclude all natural enemies just keep an eye on it] Heat treating last of my fall brassica seeds, we treat all tomatoes, peppers, brassicas and it has made a huge difference in bacterial problems [Excellent! I wish more people would hot water treat seeds.] Maintaining fungicide schedule on all that need it, I hear there has been late blight in Columbia County NY but have not added anything for LB to tomato or potato yet, should I start? [No LB in CT, so the risk is low. Mancozeb, bravo, copper, Cabrio, Quadris and Double Nickel will provide protection with low or no pressure, save the mobile fungicides for when you need them.] Busy in greenhouses seeding fall plantings I did have stings in my cherry peppers and sprayed peppers with dimethoate [Excellent! You may want to try Seduce bait next year to rest dimethoate, eliminate the risk of phytotoxicity, and spare aphid natural enemies] Oh and all my basil has downy mildew, what is labeled for controlling this?? [ProPhyt, Ranman, Revus, Quadris, and Milstop. Oxidate performed best in an organic trial at UConn. All best when applied preventatively starting when disease first occurs in this state.] Bob Handle, Handel Farm, E. Hartford, CT
Set out earworm traps on Tuesday July 15 and caught 4 moths in two traps for a total of 1 moth per night. [= 5-day spray schedule on silking corn. 6 with Warrior or Mustang. Some folks are stretching it longer with Coragen.] Nelson Cecarelli, Cecarelli Farm, Northford, CT One field in Wallingford had 0 CEW in trap and another a few miles away had 1.2 per night [4- day schedule on fresh silking corn. This demonstrates why you want a trap in your fields! Did you notice that last week Nelson was the only farmer who reported catching CEW the pest pressure is often different at different sites.] All corn fields were below threshold for corn borer. No spraying required. Tori Safner, Farm Manager Apprentice, Oxen Hill Farm, W. Suffield, CT Bacterial leaf spot is spreading on our peppers, starting to defoliate them and make the fruits susceptible to sun scald, so we are treating them with copper. We took some samples in our pepper field looking for the stings of the pepper maggot fly, but haven't found any yet. We have our maple tree picked out for a sticky trap, and are working on setting up the bait and traps. [Seduce seems to be working. Nice] Spotted a little bit of early blight on our tomatoes this week. [Should start copper, or Double Nickel applications] Potato leaf hoppers are in our younger bean field, and we plan to treat them with PyGanic as soon as possible. [For young beans, after spraying, try covering half the beans with a row cover until bloom and compare the results to multiple applications of PyGanic on the unprotected half.] Max Taylor, Provider Farm, Salem, CT After so much rain, we're glad to get back into the field and start killing weeds again. We saw some questionable lesions on our field tomatoes earlier in the week. We were worried it might be late blight but the lab identified it as Botrytis Grey Mold. [Getting the correct identification can set your mind at ease! Good job!] We are continuing with our copper applications but may shorten the intervals from every 10 days to every 5-7. We are seeing some timber rot in our high tunnel tomatoes but it is not a major problem. The lady bugs completely cleared up our aphid problem in our eggplant. We started harvesting last week and it looks like it will be a good crop this year. [Nice job scouting and trusting your natural enemies.]
Our onions are sizing up nicely despite the large thrip population. We are no longer doing anything to try and control them. If the weather cooperates and they seal up reasonably well it looks like a nice crop. Our earliest beet tops have gone down due to Cercospora fortunately the roots are large enough to bulk harvest. We've moved our second planting for bunching purposes. Bruce Gresczyk Jr., Gresczyk Farms, New Hartford, CT Corn Ear Worm: CEW @ 0.14 a night. Corn Borer both Iowa and New York @ 0 a night. After this weeks heavy rain we had to eliminate some puddling in bell peppers to prevent Phytophthora. We are paying close attention to watch for the first appearance of the disease. We spent a lot of time this spring making water flow better, and avoiding wet spots. So far it has been worth the time. [Preventative water management is worth the effort!] There is some early blight in our tomatoes, but instances are few and far between, we have been treating every 7-10 days with copper. [Organic growers can t, but you may want to at least alternate with something stronger]. Still holding off Powdery Mildew in Squash. Brian Kelliher, Easy Picken Orchard, Enfield, CT Potatoes- Not seeing many problems other than small amounts of flea beetle. Normally I have a good amount of PLH to deal with by now, but I am still not seeing them. Some Early Blight spots showing, so I will probably put on Manzate. Also same on young Tomatoes and Bravo on the ripening Tomatoes. Eggplants- picked off CPB larvae. Some Verticillium starting to show. Peppers- Maggot stings on Hot Cherries. Will need to treat or bait. Is it too late for baiting? [not if you just started detecting fly stings on fruit]. And would you trust that bait for Turnip and Radish? [I would, it is supposed to work well on both cabbage maggot and onion maggot. But you may want to prove it for yourself, by trying Seduce on one half of the planting and covering the other half with row covers or by using Lorsban.] Squash- PM on the patch we've been picking from. Will be spraying Squash and nearby cukes. Pumpkin- Scouted closely and still no PM. Plants are running, flowering, with some varieties setting fruit. Question- Should I cover with Bravo because there is Powder mildew on the farm and it seems late not to have a cover on; waiting to use the systemics till I actually see the first spots? Or follow the protocol and check next week and start with systemic when I see those spots? Any diseases I would miss in the meantime? [I would only
start early with Cabrio or Quadris if I found Plectosporium on the vines lots of small white spots. Otherwise, keep scouting the lower side of the oldest leaves. Growers that use these systemics mixed with a protectant after they find the first PM always harvest >95% marketable fruit. So, why spray more?] Cabbage- 40% with caterpillar larvae. Probably use Intrepid in this first spray? Matt DeBacco, UConn Extension Overview: This week the main issue that seems to have blooms has been Leaf Mold of tomatoes. There were some initial sightings that started earlier in the week and seemed to be on the increase as the week went on. Rain has come in typically random Thunderstorm fashion. Tomatoes: Fruit set in on the increase and so is the water demand. There has been some lower leaves that are showing some potential Mg deficiency but for the most part this is not of major concern. What is on the increase is Leaf Mold so check your lower leaves and also see the link to a fact sheet below. While this tends to be a greenhouse grown issue I have identified it in open field plantings this week. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8 &ved=0cb0qfjaa&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ct.gov%2fcaes%2flib%2fcaes%2fdocum ents%2fpublications%2ffact_sheets%2fplant_pathology_and_ecology%2fleaf_mold_of_to mato_03-29- 12.pdf&ei=H4PIU_q6OILuoATM7YHgDg&usg=AFQjCNEyECs_l9voQukFyHDiygIwjwxHTw& bvm=bv.71198958,d.cgu Peppers: Growth is on the increase with first picking taking place, there have been some low nutrient issues and less than adequate foliage can increase the chance of fruit scald. Cucurbits: Squash bugs are around and still a constant battle on some plantings. So far there is no major disease to report, but I would expect pressure (for Powdery Mildew in particular) to increase more next week with the temperature fluctuations. I would recommend protective sprays be applied over the next week. (Chemically Bravo and Organically 40% milk and 60% water.) [Conventional growers have better tools and do well controlling PM if they wait until it occurs on the underside of lower, older leaves before starting applications. Continue scouting] Leanne Pundt, UConn Extension UConn and UMass Extension are co-sponsoring a Biological Control Workshop for Greenhouse Ornamentals and GH Vegetables on July 31, from 9:00 to 3:30, at the Tolland County Extension Center in Vernon. Contact Leanne.pundt@uconn.edu, 860 626-6240 for preregistration information. Pests to Watch for this week:
Sweet corn: FAW in traps and 10% FAW infestation in whorl or pre-tassel corn, CEW in traps, Squash and pumpkins: powdery mildew, SVB on SS, squash bugs, angular leaf spot Basil: downy mildew, Japanese beetles Peppers: bacterial leaf spot, set up pepper maggot traps/scout cherry peppers (treat now) Potatoes, beans, eggplant, artichokes: potato leaf hoppers Eggplant: aphids, Asiatic garden beetles, spider mites, Verticillium wilt Crucifers: diamondback moths larvae, ICW, cross-striped cabbageworm Solanaceous, cucurbits and legumes: Phytophthora blight Beans: Mexican bean beetles, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles on pole beans Onions: thrips Beets and Chard: Cercospora leaf spots Tomatoes: early blight, Septoria leaf spot, aphids, three-lined potato bugs, tomato hornworm Celery: tarnish plant bug, black heart