Integrated Pest Management Program Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture UConn Extension UConn Extension IPM Pest Message for Friday, September 12, 2014 We are experimenting with a grower-written pest report this summer. Weekly 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.] THERE IS A BROWN MARMORATED STINK BUG ALERT FOR CENTRAL CT. SCOUT PLANTS NEAR FIELD MARGINS FOR THE FOLLOWING CROPS: LEGUMES, PEPPERS, TOMATOES, SWEET CORN. Steve Bengtson, Cold Spring Brook Farm, Berlin, CT Looks like we ll be finishing out the season on a 6 day spray schedule for corn ear worm. Our last field will be picked out by early next week. This has been an unusually easy year to control CEW. ECB moth traps contained only one moth this week, which was found in the Z trap. This is down from a total of four last week. We are almost finished harvesting tomatoes, and so far, we have had no sign of late blight anywhere on the farm. We are using Ranman and Milstop to prevent downy mildew from infecting our greenhouse pickles. So far, so good. I expect this will be my last report for this year as we are winding down and the end is in sight. Fred Monahan, Stone Gardens Farm, Shelton, CT ECB on pretassel corn is 30% but no aphids on any late corn CEW in one trap is now zero/night CEW in other trap is 1.3/night [or a 4-day schedule]. We have not had to go to 3 day spray schedule all summer, which has been nice. I keep hearing talk about how all the Bt corn is killing off the CEW moths??? No leaf hopper on beans. I do have aphids on my Brussels sprouts but I see only two plants with them. So, I m contemplating ripping out the two, or spraying the whole block with Fulfill. Cucurbits still show no sign of downy mildew, I have been alternating between Ranman and Previcur Flex. Same with late blight on tomatoes - no signs of late blight and alternating between Ranman and Previcur Flex. All fall plantings of radishes, lettuces, other greens are looking great for late summer/fall harvest. It s funny how 10 years ago we couldn t give lettuces and greens away, now we can
get rid of all we grow. And they are so easy to grow in our climate. The leaf spot is getting the best of beet greens but the beets are still sizing up and we ll have plenty for winter storage. Carrots are looking great for winter storage too. Overall this season has been pretty good, the only thing we missed were Jude s visits. Nelson Cecarelli, Cecarelli Farm, Northford, CT Corn earworm moths jumped to 15 moths per night in the traps, the highest of the season. Because we captured more than 13 moths per night, this would normally dictate a three day spray schedule, but with the cooler days and nights, we will stretch that to 4 days. It is time to harvest our winter squash and pumpkins before the deer do. The tomato market has been slow. It has been a bigger struggle to sell them this year and get a decent price. All the great growing weather has meant that everyone has a bumper crop. The worms in the Brassica crops were over threshold and a couple of plants had aphids. We used Radiant on the broccoli, collards, and kale because we are near harvest, and Coragen on the cabbage and cauliflower even though it has a 3 day-to-harvest restriction, because it usually provides 3 weeks of control and will take us to harvest on those crops. Tori Safner, Farm Manager Apprentice, Oxen Hill Farm, Suffield, CT A lot of our tomato plants have been bogged down by early blight and Septoria for a good amount of the season and had been looking pretty lifeless, but I was happy to see some healthy new growth and flowers on the tops of most of the tomato plants this week. Our winter squashes are looking good at the moment, but our late planting of summer squash is showing signs of downy mildew. [Copper may help slow the DM on organic farms]. Flea beetles are back on the eggplants. I've seen increasing numbers of diamondback moths [she probably means imported cabbageworm butterflies] flying around the Brussels sprouts and collard greens, and found a few cross-striped cabbageworms in the collards. It may be time for another round of Bt. [butterflies are a poor indicator of future caterpillar infestations. It is always best to scout 10 or 20 plants, depending upon the size of the planting, and determine the percent infested plants. Because cross-stripped cabbageworm lays egg batches, and there are always many large caterpillars per plant, just 5% infested plants would trigger a spray. With the other three caterpillar pests, spray if 10% of the plants are infested with even a single caterpillar for non-heading Brassica or 20% for heading Brassica.]
Leanne Pundt, UConn Extension If you are planning on attending the Northeast Greenhouse Conference and Expo on November 5 th and 6 th in Springfield, you have just a couple of days left for the early bird discount. Rates go up after September 15 th. Complete program and registration information are online at: (www.negreenhouse.org). Mary Concklin, UConn Extension The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug should now be considered an agricultural pest in orchards in parts of Connecticut. Numbers in traps (in central CT) as well as stinkbugs found in apple and peach trees have increased tremendously in the past 10 days with damage to fruit on the increase. The threshold being used in the Hudson Valley is 10 BMSB/trap, or without benefit of a trap, it is 1 BMSB in 100 of perimeter orchard row. Trap counts in CT range from a low of 1 to a high of 430 in a single trap this week. And those numbers are expected to increase. Without traps in your orchard be on the lookout for the stinkbugs in your trees as well as on fruit. Don t assume fruit damage is from the BMSB. Let s get it verified before jumping to conclusions. Jude Boucher, UConn Extension The BMSB is also a pest on many different vegetable crops, especially legumes (snap beans and soybeans), peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn and asparagus. Please bring specimens in to a diagnostic lab in New Haven, Windsor or Storrs for verification before spraying. This pest hits plants near the perimeter of the field the hardest, so spot treatment may be an option. There are not many insecticides that work well on this pest. Some of the most effective insecticides include: Baythroid 2E works better than XL, Permethrin 3.2EC, Dimethoate, Thionex 3EC, Belay, Actara, Venom and Lannate SP. They are not all registered on the favorite host crops. Check the labels to make sure it is registered on the crop before using.
BMSB: Note white bands on antennae Photo by Diane Hirsch Pests to Watch for this week: Sweet corn: CEW in silking corn, BMSB, rust, Northern corn leaf blight Carrots: Cercospora and Alternaria leaf spots Cucurbit crops: powdery mildew, downy mildew, Plectosporium, black rot, Brassica crops: ICW, DBM and CSCW & CL, flea beetles, Alternaria leaf spot, cabbage aphids Beets and Chard: Cercospora leaf spots Tomatoes: Late blight, early blight, Septoria leaf spot, BMSB Peppers: BMSB Eggplant: Flea beetles Legumes: BMSB
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