While we might be struggling with the heat and lack of rain, there is one pest that is loving it, Mites! Now is the time to be on your toes watching out for this pest. Early detection and treatment are key. In protected environments prevention and early intervention are especially important; In the field, heavy[Read More…]
Insect and Mite Management
The Purdue Extension Entomology Vegetable Team has a new website available for you to stay in touch and access resources for pest management in your vegetables, wherever and however you grow them! It is also the place to stay updated with the CEW trapping for 2020 by following the page to this location. Check it[Read More…]
Squash bugs are a pest of cucurbit crops and can sometimes go unnoticed until late in the season when the local populations have built up and you see them in high numbers (Figure 1) attacking the fruits of your crop. Squash bugs are similar in appearance to stink bugs but smell much more pleasant (in[Read More…]
While in your fields in the last week you may have noticed fewer striped cucumber beetles on the leaves and stems of the growing cucurbit plants (Figure 1). This is because there are two generations of this pest in Indiana; the 1st generation adults that overwintered in the field have mated and left behind their[Read More…]
Aphids have been a particularly challenging pest to get under control in our high tunnel strawberries this year. They quickly colonized the strawberries we had growing all winter and took off as the weather warmed (Figure 1). In my first attempt to knock them back I introduced 2,000 lacewing larvae (22-Apr), too little too late.[Read More…]
About the culprit insect Cutworms are the larval (caterpillar) stage of moths in the family Noctuidae, which typically fly at night. Although the adult moths are not damaging, the voracious larvae can be! The caterpillars typically hide during the day and emerge at night, curling around young, tender plants to feed. How many kinds of[Read More…]
Each and every spring we get reports of poor seed emergence, seedling and transplant damage in early planted crops of all sorts. Most recently in untreated sweet corn, home gardens and transplanted onions. Lucky for us, we got to dive right into this pest and see them in action, but not so lucky for the[Read More…]
This winter-spring has been my first excursion into growing strawberries in a high tunnel. It didn’t take much for our own Wenjing Guan to convince me to plant some; who doesn’t love to eat fresh strawberries? We planted them back in October and I just peeked at them every couple of weeks throughout the winter,[Read More…]