IPM Notes from June 12, 2014

A Field Guide to Weedy Plants of New Jersey was issued at the beginning of the IPM walk today. It's a small pamphlet, published by Rutgers University, containing pictures of some of the most common weedy plants in NJ. Some of the weeds noted on the IPM walk today were white and red clover, curly dock, velvet leaf, spiny and red amaranth, red thread and cheat grass.

The sweet corn currently is in leaf stage 3 and 4. Due to the longer winter, current cooler, rainy weather, the number of growing degree-days has been considerably less than what it normally should be for this time of year, and hence the sweet corn (and field corn) are smaller than what they should be. The sweet corn field is also beginning to accumulate more weeds due to lack of foliage cover from the smaller sweet corn. The sweet corn will also need to be side-dressed with nitrogen, as the plants begin to show some slight yellowing.

The field corn is currently around leaf stage 5, and will also need to be side-dressed with nitrogen. It's important not to fertilize before a heavy rain, since the fertilizer can simply wash away before the roots have a chance to take it in. Also its important not to fertilize all at once, but fertilize when needed over time. Know your plant and its fertilizer needs. The field corn also has a 5 to 10 percent issue with suckers, due to the variety grown.

The rainy weather shows the flag leaf of the wheat crop having cereal leaf beetle damage, rust, powdery mildew and brown root rot. The wheat grain hopefully will not be affected by headscab disease and mycotoxins. How much resistance does this wheat crop variety have to disease?

In the demonstration plots the peanut plants are showing strong new growth after being eaten by deer and/or groundhog. The strawberry plants are doing very well. The June bearing berries varieties of Chandler and All-Star are very sweet, while the everbearing berry Tribune will ripen later. The hop plants look healthy for the most part, but show some leafhopper damage. The suckers need some pruning. The blueberry plants have improved from a year ago with some protective caging, and the berries should be ready in another month. Some of the pepper plant leaves look light green and probably should be sprayed with water and epsom salts. The tomato plants and herb plants look healthy.

Once again, there were not many insects caught in the three insect traps. This may be due to the cooler, rainy weather. The summaries are below.

• Trap 1 (Black Cut Worm) – 1 each of black cut worm, sap beetle, lightning bug and lady bug.
• Trap 2 (Fall Army Worm) – 1 true army worm
• Trap 3 (European Corn Borer) – 1 each of European Corn Borer, click beetle and noctuide.