Ag Report : Washington County Ag Report July 15, 2003

Washington County Ag Report
July 15, 2003

Contributors are Sandy Buxton, Colleen Converse, Aaron Gabriel, Mandy Hulett, and Laura McDermott. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list or know of someone that should receive it, please let us know.

Quote
"Seven days without laughter makes one weak." -- Joel Goodman

Announcements
FIELD CROP SCOUTING, COME EARN A PESTICIDE RECERTIFICATION CREDIT BY SCOUTING WITH ME FOR ONE HOUR:
Tuesday, July 22, 10 am @ Duane Robinson Farm, Meeting House Rd., White Creek
Tuesday, July 29, 10 am @ Big Green Farm, Hanks Rd. Salem

Sunday, July 20, 1 & 2:30 pm - Farm Tours for the Family of Fully Belly Farm (a small organic vegetable, berry and flower farm) and Red Barn Farm (a Coriedale and Hampshire sheep farm) in Columbia County. Call the Regional Farm and Food Project to attend, 518-271-0744.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - CNCPS users workshop with Tom Tylutki of Cornell will meet at Farm Credit. Available to all Agri-business and dairy farmers interested in learning how the Cornell Model functions as well as the latest up-to-date Model information. Bring your laptops if you would like to follow along with Tom. Contact Jen Siira at 885-8995.

Dairy Tour On Milk Marketing
JULY 22 REGISTRATION DEADLINE
See last week's ag report for flyer

Wednesday, July 23 - Grazing Day. Morning session is a pasture walk for New Graziers at the Purinton Farm, Gansevoort at 10:00 a.m. Lunch and the afternoon session is at the Greenwich Elk's Club talking about Grazing Dairy Cow Nutrition with Karen Sullivan from Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative. To register call Jen Siira at 885-8995.
Wednesday, July 30, 1-4pm- McEnroe Organics, Millerton, NY. 100 acres veg, fruit, and flowers. 360 acres of pasture, grain, and hay, free-range chickens, rotationally grazed cattle, sheep and pigs. 14 greenhouses of organic seedlings, bedding plants, and tomatoes. 20,000 tons of compost annually for wholesale and retail in the NE. RFFP 518-271-0744 for info.
August 5 - 7- Empire Farm Days, Rodman Lott & Son Farms, Seneca Falls. Contact Melanie Wickham at 877-697-7837 or visit www.empirefarmdays.com.
Tuesday, Oct. 21, The Public Seed Initiative (PSI) on farm seed production workshop at Slack Hollow Farm in Argyle NY. Instruction and materials provided in the am with hands on processing in the p.m. Equipment will be available for 1 week by appointment for processing additional seed (sorry no corn sheller). So save your seed and look for more details on the workshop. Call CCE at 746-2560 for more info.

Midwest Commodity Prices - from the Wall Street Journal
Corn per bushel $2.15/bu
Cotton Seed Meal per ton $135/ton
Soybean per bushel 6.02/bu
Corn Gluten Feed 58/ton
Hominy Feed per ton 45/ton
Wheat, soft white 3.55/bu
48% Soybean meal per ton 194/ton
Tallow per pound .17/lb
These prices are provided only to show where the general market trends are moving and to help you determine appropriate ration ingredients. Local prices will vary due to shipping, processing, and discounts.

Weather Data - 2003 and average of 1999 - 2002

CROPS
Soil Quality: I looked at a grass field sprayed in preparation for a no-till seeding this summer. There was a nice mulch of dead grass and weeds on the surface. For the little moisture and summer heat that we have had, the soil had a surprising amount of moisture, right to the surface. Mulch does a lot to conserve soil moisture.

Alfalfa: Potato leafhopper are at critical levels in some fields. But, you need to check each field. Today we checked two new seedings, 500 ft apart. One was at 2 PLH per sweep (above the action threshold), and the other was a 0.4 PLH per sweep. Remember that PLH adults migrate out of alfalfa that is being mowed. If a new seeding is nearby, monitor it for PLH. If you see the yellowing of the leaves, it is too late and the damage is done. (From Ken Wise, Eastern NY IPM Specialist, Cornell) A mixed stand is idefined as alfalfa, grass and or clover planted together in a field at the same time. New York State has approved the use of Warrior as a section 18 for use in grass/clover/alfalfa mixtures on potato leafhopper. For clear seeded alfalfa stands there are several more options to select from: Baythroid, Lorsban 4E, Dimethoate, Warrior T and Ambush or Pounce. Remember, if you are within a week of cutting the field, harvesting early is a viable control measure.

Field Corn: European Corn Borer (ECB) is noticeable in corn. Look inside the corn whorls for holes eaten in leaves and "windowing" damage - all the tissue is eaten but one layer of epidermal cell, which look like a window. Planting BT-corn or hybrids resistant to ECB is your best control measure. None of the usual corn insecticide treatments affect ECB.

Grasses: The orchard disease, Cercosporidium graminicola is back - the one which I have mentioned in the last two years. The leaf tips die back and there are brownish elongate spots, about 1/8" or larger, on the leaves. It seems that Pennlate orchardgrass and native orchardgrass are affected the most. I would like to know how much of this disease we have in the county. Please call me if you are seeing disease-like problems on your fields of orchardgrass. Cool wet weather in April and May favor this pathogen.
(From Ken Wise) Toxic Weeds in Horse Hay: This week there was a report of horses in the north country region suffering from toxicity from eating hay from a bale harvested earlier this season containing the weed, "Hoary Alyssum" (aka Berteroa incana) which is known to be poisonous to livestock. This observation serves as a reminder for us to monitor for poisonous weed species in pastured systems and hay being sold off the farm. Information on plants affecting livestock can be found at the following websites:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI5567.html
http://cal.nbc.upenn.edu/poison/

Pasture: As the best forages are eaten up in a pasture, the only thing left is a bunch of weeds. If horses or other animals are not given a choice, then they will eat the weeds. Are weeds poisonous?? Play it safe and assume anything that is not one of our cool season grasses or legumes (clover, alfalfa) is probably poisonous. If the only thing left are weeds, then remove the animals from the pasture and feed them stored feed. If you feed a horse inside its normal pasture, it may still be curious and eat the plants it should not, and then possibly get sick. I consider horses to be the "canaries" of the pasture - if there is something poisonous, they will find it.

Vegetables:
Brassicas: Diamondback moths (DBM) and imported cabbage worms (ICW) are hatching
out and are likely to be above thresholds in many fields. Cabbage loopers (CL) have also been observed. When scouting for worms, be sure to look beneath the leaves and on the inner most portions of the plants. Look for feeding damage as well as for caterpillars. Tiny feeding holes are often easier to spot than the small worms. Apply controls when caterpillars are small, and direct materials at the undersides of leaves as much as possible. Use at least 50 gal/A of water to achieve better spray coverage, and use a spreader-sticker. A threshold of 15%-infested plants (an 'infested' plant has at least one caterpillar of any species) is recommended for any heading cabbage, broccoli, and all leafy greens. Before the cupping stage, in cabbage and broccoli, use a threshold of 35% plants infested. These thresholds provide a clean crop at harvest. A good comparison of "worm" insects at various life stages can be found at the following website (click on images to enlarge) http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Vegetables/veg012e/cwcompho.htm.
Imported Cabbageworm: The larva is a slow-moving, velvety-green caterpillar, which grows through a series of five stages, or instars, to a length of 1 1/4 inches. Larger caterpillars have a delicate yellow line that runs lengthwise down the center of their bodies. Small larvae feed on the undersides of outer leaves after hatching. Larger larvae are more mobile and are often found in the florets of broccoli or feeding on the heads of cabbage. Larvae may also move to neighboring plants.

Diamondback Moth larvae grow through four instars to a length of 1/3-inch. They are light green; tapering to points on both ends and appearing scalloped or segmented along the edges of their bodies. During the first two instars, the larvae have black heads, which later lighten to match their green bodies. They can be distinguished from other caterpillar pests by their habit of wiggling frantically when touched or disturbed. They may also drop from the plant and suspend themselves on a silken thread until the disturbance passes. The larval stage lasts from two to four weeks, depending upon temperatures. Pupae are found attached to the undersides of crop foliage and appear to be thinly veiled under a fine, net-like silken cocoon. The cabbage looper caterpillar is light green, with wavy white or light yellow lines down the back and sides. Full-grown larvae reach 1 ½ to 2 inches. At rest or when disturbed, cabbage loopers of any size will raise the middle of their body in a characteristic "loop" shape. Eggs are round, light green or yellow, and laid underneath the foliage. Feeding tends to create ragged, large holes in foliage, on both frame leaves and heads.

Insecticides for Caterpillars: In the area of caterpillar control there are several new products available in addition to those which have been labeled for a long time. These include spinosad (SpinTor 2SC, Entrust), Avaunt (indoxycarb), Confirm 2F (Tebufenozide) and Proclaim (Emamectin benzoate). It is possible to get excellent control of the three major caterpillar pests using low-risk products that are safe to handle and conserve beneficial insects (which do have an impact in suppressing aphids and caterpillars). It is also easier now to rotate among different types of products, to prevent selecting for resistance to any single product. The cost of the new products listed below ranges from $7 to $20 per acre, depending on whether high or low rates are used, compared to $5 to $12 per acre for synthetic pyrethroids, $5 to 21 for carbamates, and $3 to $17 for Bt products.-R. Hazzard- Umass Vegetable Update

The following is from John Mishanec's 7/10/03 Vegetable Pest Status Report
Sweet Corn: Something is happening this summer that I have never seen before. Fields coming into tassel are coming in all at once. Usually, a field comes into tassel unevenly. Maybe 30% will tassel then the rest of the field will tassel within a few days. Every field I have looked at, the tassel is all at once. With the heat, fields are at pre tassel and then in full tassel the next day. The heat is also affecting european corn borer (ECB). Normally, the best time to control ECB is right at tassel as the larvae are just sitting on the freshly opened tassel. Because of the high temperatures, the larvae are leaving the tassel very quickly. The larvae drop down on the plant and either fall to the ground, go into the stem at a leaf or wedge between an ear and the stem. After scouting a field and determining if you have a high enough population of ECB to spray, it is a good idea to spray the tassel a little earlier than usual. Spray the field as the flag leaf is just starting to pull away from the tassel. You may want to scout the field the next day to determine the effectiveness of the spray and look for active larvae. You may need to make another application if there are sufficient larvae present.

Trap catch numbers are low for ECB. In western NY they have caught a few corn ear worm (CEW) but so far here in eastern NY we have not caught a CEW. We have traps out through eastern NY and we will let you know if we start catching CEW.

When scouting a field, go to ten locations in the field and look at 5 plants per location. Look for small shot holes with frass and windows in the leaves where the larvae have not chewed all the way through the leaf. Feeding damage is fairly easy to find. ECB larvae are about a half-inch long now. When you find some feeding damage, break off the plant just below the tassel and unroll the plant. This way, you can find the ECB larvae and see how big they are getting. The head is dark red or black and the body is white or light green. Sweet corn plants are progressing fast with the hot weather. Cornell does not recommend whorl sprays. The ECB are well hidden and cannot be killed very well when protected by the outer leaves. I don't care what kind of equipment you have, whorl sprays are not effective. Generally we are finding around 10 to 15% feeding damage in most fields. The threshold at tassel is 15%. Depending on your marketing technique, you may need to use a lower threshold or you may feel a higher threshold is acceptable.

Potatoes: Be on the lookout for potato leaf hopper (PLH). With all the alfalfa and hay fields being cut, PLH is moving into other kinds of crops. If you have a sweep net, make ten sweeps across the row as you walk along. If you don't have a sweep net, flop the vine into the row and shake the whole plant, then flop the vine back to the other side. Look for small wedge-shaped iridescent green, adults that are 1/8 inch long and very active when distributed. With the dry weather, hopper burn is more of a problem and can cause economic damage to your crop that is not readably apparent. There is wilting in many fields as some plants have root disease. In general though, the potato crop looks good. Most fields have flowered and are beginning to set a crop. There have been no reports of late blight in the northeast. Colorado potato beetle (CPB) larvae are big. When the larvae are about the same size as hard shell adults, you know it is time to control them. If the large larvae are allowed to become adults, it will be nearly impossible to control CPB for the rest of the season. You will have all the different generations in the field at the same time and your insecticides will not be able to cope with the pressure. Get out there and control the large larvae, Now! Early blight is just beginning to creep into some fields. Look for early blight on the lowest leaves of the plant. Early blight lesions are bronze in color and usually have target like rings within the spot. Bravo or copper will do a good job keeping the disease in check.

Tomatoes, Eggplant and Peppers: From Alan Erb, western NY CCE The earliest planted peppers and eggplant are flowering and should start setting fruit by the end of the week. Potato leafhoppers (PLH) can cause damage on eggplant. Damage caused by PLH's includes stunting, brown leaf margins, leaf curl, and reduced vigor. If adults can easily be found when plant foliage is disturbed or a sweep net is moved over the plants in five different locations throughout the field and adults are caught in each sweep, a spray with Sevin, Lannate, Asana, Vydate, Ambush, Pounce, or Provado (if it was not used to control CPB) would be beneficial. At least two sprays will be necessary to get both the adults and nymphs after they hatch about 10 days later.

Also from Alan- We have found a number of fields in western NY that had plants infected with bacterial canker (BC). It was depressing. The depressing part is not just the yield loss for this year but greenhouse growers that produced the plants for three of the farms we visited and found BC infected plants is a very good grower and he tries hard to protect the plants from bacterial infection while the plants are under his care. My guess is that he did not chlorox or hot water treat his seed before planting and that maybe the reason why we are finding so many infected plants. I think the fourth farm we visited gets their transplants from a different transplant grower but I am not sure. Start closely checking the tomato fields in your area especially the once that have lower leaves that have leaf margin necrosis.

Vine crops: There are lots of cucumber beetles out in fields. Generally once a field has been treated, the beetle populations will usually stay low till the second generation starts in a couple weeks.

From UMass Vegetable Notes: Scout for powdery mildew in all vine crops, especially searching lower, older leaves for symptoms. Powdery mildew has been observed in summer squash and zucchini. Search at least 50 leaves, both upper and lower surfaces, in groups of 5 leaves in 10 locations throughout the field. Look for light green to yellow blotches on the upper surface, or a white to gray, powdery covering on the upper or lower leaf surfaces. These powdery areas most often start on the underside of the leaf, often as small as a quarter. The last week of July and first two weeks of August are typically the time when powdery mildew shows up in pumpkin and winter squash. Begin fungicide applications as soon as powdery mildew is observed, and continue at approximately 10-day intervals. Rotate among classes of materials (rotate Quadris or Flint, both strobilurins, with Nova, also a systemic but with a different mode of action) and use a broad-spectrum fungicide (eg chlorothalonil) as well. Resistance to the systemic fungicides has been observed in other regions and when it happens, it tends to be a high level of resistance. Avoid overuse (not more than twice per season per class of fungicide), rotate to other classes, and use a non-systemic fungicide at the same time to reduce the chance of resistance.

Ornamentals: The most striking thing we've seen this week is tree collapse. This has primarily been mature sugar maples (more than 30 years old), that were struggling prior to the intense heat of two weeks ago. These individual trees have had thinning canopies, poor leaf enlargement and some marginal leaf burn over the past few growing seasons. When the hot weather came, that was enough to push them over the edge. So far, we have seen 8 separate trees with exactly these symptoms and I have noticed dozens like them as I drive around. These trees should be removed - they will not "come back". They are succumbing to droughty weather over the past decade. Trees close to roads or other paved surfaces are most susceptible to decline. Root pruning due to construction etc. will also contribute to loss of vigor, but the long and short of it is too little water.

On herbaceous plants we saw an absolute explosion of aphids - on everything from rudbeckia to lupine to phlox to burdock! Powdery mildew is also rampant on all the usual plants - phlox, roses, lilac etc.
Mum producers: You should be inspecting mums for two insects: leafminers and leafhoppers. Leafminers lay eggs in foliage. Initial damage shows a yellow scarring - sort of like thrips feeding. The larvae hatch and cause brown blotches. Insecticides that are growth regulators interfere with larval development, some of those are Citation, Precision and Azatin. Systemics like Avid and Marathon are also effective. Pyrethroids are effective on adults, but not on the larvae. Pyrethroids, like Decathalon will control leafhopers which vector aster yellows.

Turf: As summer weather really sets in so do normal turf problems. It is important to follow the advice of fewer, deep waterings when setting up an irrigation schedule. Weeds tend to profit more from frequent shallow waterings than does the turf, so you end up compounding problems by encouraging weed growth. Don't fertilize in this heat, and mow high. We have seen dollar patch, but oddly enough no other diseases thus far.

Sincerely,

Aaron D. Gabriel
Extension Resource Educator
Crops and Soils