We very much regret the oversight in not listing the following companies in the acknowledgements section of our annual report, 2012 Insect Pest Management in Virginia Cotton, Peanut and Soybean, AREC-37NP: AMVAC, FMC and BASF. Funding for our program is critical as are the valuable collaborations and partnerships we have with many companies and their representatives. I hate that we slipped up on this and we apologize. We are looking forward to a new season and are already making plans for a productive season. Thank you for your support of our insect pest management program. Ames Herbert
Tag Archives: Urgent News
i’m sorry, I forgot to include Dr. John Tooker’s contact information
Deadline bullets on EPA chopping block (read Dr. Tookers article below)
Metaldehyde (Deadline products) labeled use in corn and soybeans in jeopardy
One of the reasons that slugs are such a challenge in no-till field crops is the lack of commercially available pest management tools. Among the few viable options for slug control are metaldehyde-based baits, the best well known of which are the Deadline products (e.g., Deadline Bullets and Deadline Mini-Pellets), but others are available.
The active ingredient metaldehyde is produced by a European company called Lonza and needs periodic re-registration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The latest re-registration is underway, and we recently learned that Lonza has decided to let corn and soybeans drop from the label. The IR-4 Project (which facilitates registration of pest management tools; http://ir4.rutgers.edu/) has submitted a petition to EPA to establish tolerances on these and other commodities (which would allow their continued registration on the metaldehyde label), but in the near future it could be that growers would not be allowed to use metaldehyde-based products to protect their corn and soybean fields for perhaps a year or two until the EPA publishes a final rule on the proposed tolerances.
Since learning of this problem, various organizations including IR4, AMVAC (the producer of Deadline products), and University-based and NRCS personnel have mobilized to try to maintain uninterrupted use of metaldehyde in corn and soybeans. Our efforts are directed toward the EPA, where the final decision lies. It is promising that such a range of voices have emerged in support of maintaining the current uses of metaldehyde, but it would be valuable for EPA to hear from growers and grower groups. If you have the energy to send them a note, please contact me by email or phone (814-865-7082) and I can help you make this happen.
Contact Information
John Tooker
New webcast on thrips as pests and vectors of TSWV on tomatoes
The Plant Management Network (PMN) has launched a new presentation in its Focus on Tomato webcast resource. This webcast is titled “Thrips as Pests and Vectors of Tospoviruses in Tomato” by George Kennedy, Professor of Agriculture and Entomology Department Head at North Carolina State University.
Below my signature, you will find more details about this webcast and the Focus on Tomato resource. Please let your students, growers, consultants, and any other practitioners who may be interested know through email, ListServe, blog, enewsletter, or any other extension-focused communications that you see fit..
Feel free to reply or call 651-994-3859 if there is any more information I can provide.
Kind Regards,
Phil Bogdan
Plant Management Network
New Thrips Webcast Featured in Focus on Tomato
As the primary vector for Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV), thrips are an important pest to keep at bay.
This latest Focus on Tomato presentation, produced by The Plant Management Network will help consultants, growers, and other practitioners in the southern and western U.S. manage thrips and suppress virus incidence.
This talk, authored by Dr. George Kennedy, Professor of Agriculture and Entomology Department Head at North Carolina State University, covers&
– The biology of thrips and factors affecting their abundance
– Some background information on TSWV
– The roles of the tobacco thrips and western flower thrips in spread of TSWV
– The use of insecticides, reflective plastic mulch, Actigard, and TSWV resistant cultivars in the management of thrips
This presentation is open access through December 31, 2012 and can be viewed at http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/edcenter/seminars/tomato/ThripsTomato/.
Users can view other recent webcasts in the Focus on Tomato resource at http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/fot.
Focus on Tomato is a publication of the Plant Management Network (PMN), a nonprofit online publisher whose mission is to enhance the health, management, and production of agricultural and horticultural crops. It achieves this mission through applied, science-based resources. PMN is jointly managed by the American Society of Agronomy, American Phytopathological Society, and Crop Science Society of America.
To take advantage of PMN’s full line of resources, please sign up for its free online newsletter at:
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/update/default.cfm.
Corn earworm monitoring for sweet corn IPM
Sweet corn producers in Virginia are reaching the intensive pest management period for that crop. Corn earworm is the primary pest of sweet corn, and typically very few ears will escape infestation by this pest as the summer progresses. Monitoring the activity of moths on the farm can aid in the pest management decision making. In the Northern Neck of Virginia, Parker Farms are monitoring corn earworm pheromone traps. Nightly catch of moths at the traps indicate the flight activity of the pest, potential for egg laying on the silks, and concomitant larval infestation in the ear. The Parkers have reduced the number of insecticide sprays applied to sweet corn with this information, and have obtained damage-free sweet corn over the past two years. The exact action thresholds based on moth catch can very. University of Delaware IPM provides a good table and discussion of this. Click on the following URL. http://ag.udel.edu/extension/IPM/thresh/sweetcornsg.html
In general, catch of 10 or more moths per night is high and indicates the need for a short spray interval (every 2 or 3 days throughout silking period). Less than 10 moths per night indicates that you could increase your interval between sprays. If an average of less than 1 moth per night is caught, then spray intervals can possibly be once per week. However, corn earworm moth activity increase as we progress through the summer, and in many areas of Virginia, moth catch will exceed 10 per night though most of July and August.
So far, at Parker Farms in Oak Grove in the Northern Neck of Virginia, corn earworm catch has been low in the 3 pheromone traps with the exception of one night (June 26) in one trap, when 26 moths were caught in one night. Catch dropped to 3 the following night, and has since been virtually 0. We will be reporting these trap catch data on the VA Ag Pest Advisory each week throughout the summer. We thank Raef Parker for monitoring this pest in the Northern Neck and sharing these useful sweetcorn IPM data.
Virginia Tech’s Eastern Shore AREC Field Day set for July 18, 2012
Virginia Tech’s Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center (ESAREC) has scheduled their 2012 Research Field Day for Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Registration is free, open to the public, and will begin at 8:00 AM at the ESAREC complex located at 33446 Research Drive, Painter, Virginia 23420. Research projects to be showcased include: herbicide resistant weeds, plant disease management, insect pest management, alternative fertilizers and fertilizer management, fumigant alternatives, and water quality best management practices. Virginia Private Pesticide Applicators and Certified Crop Advisor recertification credits will be offered.
The Virginia Tech ESAREC is committed to supporting commercial vegetable and agronomic crop production throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Centrally located on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, the center conducts basic and applied research on more than 25 agricultural crops including, but not limited to, alfalfa, barley, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, collards, cotton, cucumbers, dry beans, edamame, eggplant, field corn, lettuce, lima beans, peppers, potatoes, pumpkin, snap beans, soybeans, spinach, squash, sunflowers, sweet corn, switchgrass, tomatoes, watermelon, wheat, and zucchini.
For more information, visit http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/eastern-shore/index.html. If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Lauren or Carrie at 757-414-0724* (*TDD number is (800) 828-1120) during business hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to discuss accommodations.
Additional information: 2012-esarec-field-day-program-27june2012-docx
Late blight on tomato continues to show up in Virginia
Late blight continues to be found on tomato in Virginia. New reports from the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Charles City County have been confirmed this week. The upcoming heat wave should suppress some of the damage and spread that late blight can achieve, however, growers and gardener should be diligent in scouting for the disease and take appropriate measures. Additional information: anr-6-pdf-pdf
Late Blight found on Potato on the Eastern Shore of VA, cucurbit downy mildew widespread in NC
Find the attached document for more info about disease developments on vegetables in Virginia. Thanks
Steve Additional information: vegdiseasealert060512-doc
Thrips are no worse than usual in Virginia and so far, treatments are working
Hearing that thrips populations are larger than normal in the southeastern states has caused some concern in Virginia. For the past several years our ‘normal’ in terms of thrips numbers and plant damage to cotton and peanut seedlings has been higher than most of our neighbors to the south. Worse than ‘normal’ would be really challenging. This is the first week (May 14-18) that we have been able to systematically assess the thrips situation in our many cotton and peanut thrips field trials, as we finally have 1st true leaf cotton and emerged peanuts. To evaluate the thrips species and abundance, we sample 5 cotton seedlings per plot and in peanuts, 10 unopened terminal leaflets per plot. We rinse the adults and immatures from these plants/leaves and count them under a microscope. We also identify some number of the adults to species, which allows us to keep track of any species shifts that could indicate a problem.
This week’s samples are showing numbers that are pretty much in line with what we would expect for this time of the year. In cotton, we are finding about 10-18 adult thrips per 5-plant sample (2-3 per plant) and about that same number of immatures. In peanuts, we are finding about that same number of adults, but fewer immatures. These numbers are typical of the first sample in May. By next week, we will see an increase in the number of immatures to levels that have historically reached as many as 130-160 per 5 cotton seedlings and as many as 60 in 10 peanut leaflets. These immatures are the stage responsible for most of the plant damage. We are just beginning to see the effects of feeding on the plants and by next week, it will be no problem sorting out which treatments are performing best.
A positive observation—so far we are seeing good performance with the treatments that include Admire Pro, Thimet, liquid Orthene in-furrow, CruiserMaxx Peanut, Avicta CP and Aeris/Poncho Votivo in cotton and many others. It is especially important to note that so far, we have not detected any peanut stand emergence delays with Orthene/Acephate liquid in-furrow treatment, and we have several in our field trials.
We will continue to post updates as ‘thrips season’ progresses—and don’t forget that many of these thrips trials will be featured on our annual early season field tour on Tuesday, June 5 beginning at 9 am. We will post the flier next week.
Cucurbit Downy Mildew found in NC
Please review the attachment regarding the discovery of downy mildew on cucumber in North Carolina. Thanks Steve Additional information: cdownymildewupdate050412-doc