Onion thrips (Thrips tabaci) feed on more than just onions; they also feed on cabbage, leaf lettuce, a variety of other vegetables and fruits, field crops, and many weed species. Thrips are unique from other insects as they have rasping-sucking mouthparts that allow them to scratch the cell walls of leaves, suck up the cell contents including the chlorophyll, and leave behind a shiny, translucent trail on the leaf. A single female can produce Continue reading Scouting for onion thrips
Category Archives: Crop Protection
Making Lemonade Out of Lemons – A Tomato Fungicide Stewardship Tip Amidst Changing Regulations
Cheryl Trueman (Ridgetown Campus, University of Guelph) & Janice LeBoeuf (OMAFRA)
It seems like recently there have been a rash of proposed or pending pesticide regulation changes that affect field growers, and tomato growers are no exception. There are re-evaluations ongoing for a number of products used in tomatoes, including mancozeb, neonicotinoids, and Lannate, as well as Ethrel, but the big one that comes to mind for field tomato growers is the proposed changes to the use of chlorothalonil (Bravo, Echo). The final outcome of this review is not yet known, but it’s likely that significant changes to the chlorothalonil labels are coming.
Chlorothalonil is a go-to fungicide for tomato growers. Data from trials at Ridgetown Campus demonstrate its value. Chlorothalonil is often just as good at controlling early blight, Septoria leaf spot, and anthracnose fruit rot as alternative fungicides, and it also provides protection from late blight, which many targeted fungicides do not. It’s a good value active ingredient for tomato disease management and has a low risk of resistance development. But, if proposed changes go through, the number of chlorothalonil applications you can use will be drastically cut.
So, have you thought about how you are going to adapt? Continue reading Making Lemonade Out of Lemons – A Tomato Fungicide Stewardship Tip Amidst Changing Regulations
Insect pests of pepper fruit
There is a long list of insects that can damage field pepper fruit in Ontario. Many cause significant damage on their own, but they also provide a means of entry for rot organisms. For more on pepper rots, see Pepper fruit rots.
European corn borer
Time to Scout for Asparagus Beetles
Asparagus beetle activity is on the rise. The adult beetles hide in soil cracks or underneath residue during the heat of the day. Egg laying is often the most obvious sign of their activity. The presence of eggs on the harvest spears, may affect marketability. On young fern, heavy amounts of larval feeding has a negative impact on growth and development.
As harvest concludes, scout plantings regularly as the spears begin to elongate and develop a full canopy of fern. Spray thresholds are as follows:
Eggs: 2 /10 spears with eggs
Larvae: 50% of plants with larvae OR 10% Defoliation
Adults: 5-10% of plants infested
If controls are required during the harvest season, play close attention to the pre-harvest intervals. Products with a 24-hr pre-harvest interval include: malathion (Malathion 85E), cypermethrin (Mako, Upside 2.5 EC), and acetamiprid (Assail 70WP).
Cabbage Maggot; An old pest with limited options
The cabbage maggot (Delia radicum) is the larvae stage of the cabbage root fly which can cause severe damage to all Brassica crops. The adult cabbage maggot is a fly that is about half the size of a house fly and is grey in colour.
In the early spring, cabbage maggot flies emerge from the soil and the females lay small, white eggs ~2-10 cm below the soil line. Depending upon the temperature, eggs hatch 3-7 days later as larvae that immediately start boring Continue reading Cabbage Maggot; An old pest with limited options
Storing Pesticide Mix Overnight
From Sprayers101.com:
Not being able to finish a tank due to weather or any other reason happens to just about everyone. Is it OK to simply leave the sprayer as is, and resume spraying later after some agitation? In many cases, the answer is yes. Most pesticide mixtures are stable in short term storage. On resuming spraying, an agitation…
Continue reading at: Storing Pesticide Mix Overnight — Sprayers 101
Herbicide injury symptoms in tomatoes
Darren Robinson, University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus; Janice LeBoeuf, OMAFRA, Ridgetown
Introduction
Herbicides are useful tools for the management of weeds. The herbicides registered for use in tomatoes are selective in their activity, injuring or killing weeds while being safe to use on the crop. Crop injury may occur, generally when a crop is stressed beyond its ability to adequately deal with a herbicide application. Injury due to herbicides can arise as a result of several factors, including weather-related stress, soil factors such as light soil texture and low soil organic matter, shallow planting and sensitive crop varieties. The pages in this section contain information on herbicide injury for several products registered on tomatoes in Canada. Continue reading Herbicide injury symptoms in tomatoes
