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 about Entomologists Looking for Cucumber Beetles[Read More]
Laura Ingwell
Entomology
Area(s) of Interest: Vegetable Pest Management, Protected Agriculture, Controlled Environment Agriculture, Urban Agriculture
Area(s) of Interest: Vegetable Pest Management, Protected Agriculture, Controlled Environment Agriculture, Urban Agriculture
One can hardly glance at the news recently without noticing an item about the health of bees and other pollinators. We can all agree on the importance pollinators play in the health of our planet and the critical role honey bees and bumble bees play in agriculture. There is no doubt that populations of honey…Read more about Pollinator Health and Foliar Fungicide Use[Read More]
One of the most problematic insect pests that organic vegetable growers have to deal with is the striped cucumber beetle. The insect feeds on all the cucurbit crops, but can be particularly devastating to muskmelons and cucumbers because those two crops are susceptible to bacterial wilt of cucurbits, which is caused by a bacterium carried…Read more about Organic Control Methods for Striped Cucumber Beetles[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 about Entomologists Looking for Cucumber Beetles[Read More]
It’s that time of year, where we are prepping high tunnels and getting back into the full swing of production, slowly, here in the Midwest. Many of you have already begun to transplant and may have encountered your first pests on these new crops. Aphids are one that remain a problem in high tunnels, and…Read more about Aphids in High Tunnels[Read More]
While many virus diseases affect pepper and tomato plants, in the Midwest, the most common virus diseases of these two crops are tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and Impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV). These diseases are usually observed in greenhouse or high tunnel situations. The two viruses, TSWV and INSV are closely related. In fact,…Read more about Tomato Viruses in Greenhouse[Read More]
It is that time of year again, when the two-spotted spider mites (Tetranychus urticae; TSSM, Figure 1), and other mite species, show up in full force and wreak havoc on fruit and vegetables. These pests are very inconspicuous and often go unnoticed until the resulting damage appears. For TSSM this includes the webbing produced on…Read more about Two-Spotted Spider Mite Control[Read More]
One of the most damaging pests in cucurbit production are cucumber beetles and the bacterial pathogen they transmit (Erwinia trachephila), leading to bacterial wilt. In the recently released video, Dr. Laura Ingwell from Purdue Entomology demonstrates how to install insect exclusion screens on high tunnels. Such screens are effective at excluding cucumber beetles and the pathogen…Read more about Video—Installing High Tunnel Insect Exclusion Screen[Read More]
Screening can be an effective measure to exclude unwanted pests from colonizing your crops. In high tunnels, one of the biggest challenges to successfully implementing exclusion screening is managing the unintended side effect: reduced airflow. In spring we are clamoring to get inside the warmth that high tunnels provide, but by mid-summer they can become…Read more about High Tunnel Screening for Insect Pest Management[Read More]
As part of a multi-state effort being headed by Dr. Ian Kaplan at Purdue University in the Department of Entomology, we are investigating how to best manage insect pests on cucurbits, in our case watermelons, while having the least possible impact on pollinators. The research is being funded through the USDA/NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative….Read more about Purdue Looking for Watermelon Growers to Collaborate on Research Study[Read More]