We announced in a previous newsletter article that we are doing a survey to understand the extent of root-knot nematode (RKN) damage on vegetable crops in Indiana. Among the 18 soil samples from high tunnels of 14 farms, RKNs (juvenile or adult) were found in 13 samples at 9 farms. Only 3 farmers knew RKN[Read More…]
Pests and Pest Management - General
References, associations, organizations, periodicals, pesticides, pesticide safety, pest laws and regulations
Purdue recently joined and became one of twenty US states that are in the NEWA network. NEWA is a partnership of land grant universities and grower associations. If you live in one of the states listed, you can buy a weather station for your farm and connect to NEWA. For Indiana growers, this means your membership is[Read More…]
Researchers at Purdue University and The College of Wooster are conducting a study to learn more about insect pest management practices used by vegetable producers in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the US. Although there is a key insect we’re curious about (the carrot weevil), you’ll only see 1 question about it; the[Read More…]
Root-knot nematodes (RKN) are a devasting soilborne pest on a wide range of vegetables and fruits. They are most active in well-aerated soils and they like warm weather. Increasingly, we saw this pest in our regions. Root-knot nematode infections result in root swellings called galls, and heavily infected crops by RKN display aboveground symptoms such[Read More…]
This is our second year scouting CBD hemp to learn more about the insect communities occurring on these plants throughout the season and ‘who’ the potential pest insects might be! This year we had the opportunity to scout CBD hemp plants grown both in the field and in a high tunnel environment (Figure 1). Since[Read More…]
We were all hoping it would happen later, but unfortunately, the spotted lanternfly (SLF) (Lycorma delicatula) (Figure 1), an invasive planthopper with a piercing-sucking feeding strategy, was officially detected in Vevay, Indiana (Switzerland County) for the first time in July 2021. You can see pictures and read more about the detection at the Indiana Department[Read More…]
Winter squash – butternut, acorn, and kabocha – in our downy mildew sentinel plot at Pinney Purdue were showing some wilted and stunted plants by late July (Figure 1). They are easily pulled up, the stem breaking off at ground level, revealing a brown stringy decayed-looking stem base (Figure 2). Sometimes there is a little[Read More…]
Entomologists are looking for growers willing to participate in research examining the detection and distribution of striped cucumber beetles. We would like to visit your fields on multiple occasions this year to count the number of cucumber beetles we encounter in your crop. If you grow slicing cucumbers in the field, and are interested in helping to improve[Read More…]
Samples in plug trays, as well as unrooted and rooted cuttings, and plants in pots require extra care when they are packaged for submittal to a diagnostic lab. Before you mail the next sample, please take a few minutes to review these suggestions for packaging and submitting samples. This will help preserve the integrity of[Read More…]