Please see the attached report by Dr. Herbert (Virginia Tech) and Dr. Kennedy (North Carolina State University) regarding thrips resistance to neonicotinoid insecticides. NeonicThripsResistance
Category Archives: Commodity
Corn seed trait tables
Dr. Dominic Reisig (Entomologist, North Carolina State University) has shared these slides showing (1) corn trade names, their Bt protein(s), and their effectiveness against corn earworm and fall armyworm; and (2) corn seed treatment trade names, their active ingredient(s), and their effectiveness against billbug, white grub, and wireworm. In these two attached tables, P = Poor, F = Fair, G = Good, VG = Very Good, E = Excellent, and NL = Not Labeled. Please click on the pdf document at the end of this sentence to access the tables: corntraits
2015 Wireworm Control Options in Potatoes
As potato planting is on everyone’s mind, control options for wireworms are of importance, particularly since some of those need to be made immediately prior to or at planting.
Below is a document on wireworms and their control in potatoes to assist in the management of this important pest:
VA State Peanut Meeting
The State Peanut Meeting this year is scheduled for Feb 2nd at the Airfield 4-H Center in Wakefield, VA. The address is: 15189 Airfield Road, Wakefield, VA 23888. The meeting starts at 9:00 AM and ends after lunch with the VA Peanut Growers Business meeting. Kelvin Wells, Sussex County Extension Agent has the details. See you there!
16th Annual Virginia Cotton Meeting
Please click on the attached pdf file (at the end of this sentence) for information about the upcoming “16th Annual Virginia Cotton Meeting” to be held on February 19, 2015 at the Paul D. Camp Regional Workforce Development Center, Franklin, VA. cottonmeeting2015
The Best Sorghum Hybrids for VA and the Mid-Atlantic
Not long ago, it was estimated that the break even yield for grain sorghum grown in the Mid-Atlantic is 85 bu/ac at the current seed price. Based on OVT testing in SC, NC, VA, and MD in 2013 and 2014 it seems that a good hybrid selection exists for growing sorghum as a single crop per season but not for planting after wheat as a double crop. For example 13 hybrids in VA and 19 across the four states produced average yields from 94 to 128 bu/ac in 2014. [2014 Sorghum OVT Summary] From these, five hybrids (DEKALB DKS 51-01 and 44-20; Pioneer 83P17; Mycogen 1G855; and Sorghum Partners NK6638) were also top performers across the Virginia-Carolina region in 2013 with yields at or over 100 bu/ac. At such high yield potential, they can produce 85 bu/ac and over in a regular farm setting. But double crop sorghum produced at the most 80 bu/ac (DKS51-01) across the Mid-Atlantic and 75 bu/ac (ALTA AG2103) in VA in 2014. Double crop grain sorghums did not perform better in 2013 either, when averaged across the region. There were a few exceptions; in NC certain hybrids (DKS33-88, 51-01, 44-20, and 55-33; ALTA AG2115 and 2101, Richardson Seed 92123; Southern Harvest 5964, 8064; and Southern States SS540) performed well under double cropping production. But, is this sufficient to conclude otherwise when neither in VA, MD, nor SC yields of double cropped sorghum exceeded 80 bu/ac? Better hybrids with improved adaptability to the region and this type of cropping would seem to be needed for grain sorghum to have a place in this region and where double cropping is practiced over hundreds of thousands of acres. We will continue to search for better hybrids in a double crop system within the OVT trials in 2015 and, hopefully, beyond.
Drs. Ron Heiniger, Bob Kratochvil, and Chris Ray and their teams are gratefully acknowledged for providing the OVT data from NC, MD, and SC, respectively.
Summary of 2014 Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation Results
Created in 1968, the Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation (PVQE) program is a multi-state data support program for the Virginia-type cultivar development. Led by the TAREC researchers and staff, the PVQE is a NIFA multi-state joint effort with major universities in NC and SC. Among current priorities, development of Virginia-type cultivars with the high oleic fatty acid trait was identified as the most important for the VC region. The 2014 results from tests in VA, NC, and SC are here: AREC-125-pdf
The 2015 VA Peanut Production Guide is also available at http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/AREC/AREC-117/AREC-117.html.
Boxwood Blight on Boxwood Holiday Greenery
Boxwood blight has been present in Virginia since 2011 and has since spread from its original location in Carroll County to a number of other counties around the state by movement of infected plants. Because much of Virginia’s greenery production industry is located in areas where boxwood blight is known to occur, the potential for spread of the disease on boxwood greenery also exists. Last year we notified agents regarding the potential for spread of the disease via holiday boxwood greenery. Now that potential has become a reality in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently discovered boxwood blight in holiday boxwood greenery sold at several retail locations in North Carolina. Although the fungus that causes boxwood blight is not active at cold temperatures, it produces structures that can survive on plant debris over the winter. The fungus could potentially infect nearby susceptible plants in the landscape when favorable weather conditions return. Therefore, it is very important that boxwood greenery be properly disposed after the holidays by double-bagging and removing to the landfill. Do not compost boxwood greenery and do not leave it in cull piles in the landscape. Inspect boxwood greenery carefully for symptoms of boxwood blight before introducing it to a site containing susceptible boxwood plants and discard symptomatic greenery as described above. Symptoms of boxwood blight include brown leaf spots with dark border, black streaks on green stems, and leaf drop. Be aware, however, that even asymptomatic greenery could potentially harbor the pathogen. If clientele have highly valued boxwood in their landscape, they may want to avoid introducing boxwood greenery altogether.
For more information on the North Carolina situation, refer to the NCSU Plant Disease and Insect Clinic blog at: http://ncsupdicblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/pest-alert-boxwood-blight-on-holiday.html.
For more information on boxwood blight in general, including Best Management Practices for the greenery industry, landscapers, home growers, and retail and wholesale nurseries, visit the Virginia Boxwood Blight Task Force web site at:http://www.ext.vt.edu/topics/agriculture/commercial-horticulture/boxwood-blight/index.html.
Please make sure that property managers of historic sites in your area are informed about this update.
Leaf spots on boxwood caused by the boxwood blight pathogen (photo by A. Bordas)
Black streaking on boxwood stems caused by the boxwood blight pathogen (photo by A. Bordas)
Fall soil sampling method for white grubs in corn
The Compact Method is a fall soil sampling strategy that provides timely, field-specific information for white grub management decision-making. The link below opens a PDF file describing this method.
Field corn insecticide seed treatment chart
There are many insecticide seed treatment combinations available on commercial field corn seed. Although there are only 4 main active insecticide ingredients involved (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and chlorantraniliprole), there are currently at least 20 different trade names with different combinations and amounts of active ingredient per seed. The chart provided here (see below) was created as a collaborative effort by corn entomologists from across the southeast. It shows the combination and rate of the active ingredients of each product and the relative efficacy against the most common soil pests. Because of the diversity of soil pests of corn in Virginia—depending on location, soil type, crop rotation system and history of pests—product selection should be made to fit each situation. This chart can be used to select the most effective product for the most common pests of a particular field. For example, if seed corn maggot has been a chronic pest, at least 8 products are ranked as Excellent (E rating on the chart) for controlling that pest—compared with only two products that provide Excellent control of wireworm. Hopefully this chart will be helpful when selecting the best insecticide seed treatments for next year’s field corn crop.