Cucurbit downy mildew (CDM) symptoms were identified and the CDM pathogen was isolated from cucumber plants in Cheshire County (southwestern NH) on Friday July 7, 2023. There are few other reports in the region (https://cdm.ipmpipe.org/), and the forecasts you may be used to seeing have been suspended due to lack of funding. With recent rainy […]
Read more
Measuring the Nutritional Status of Fruit Trees Leaf samples can be collected in a few weeks for assessing the nutrient status of your orchards. Mid to late July is ideal for an accurate measure of nitrogen status. Samples collected after this date will underestimate the nitrogen level and can lead to overfertilizing next spring. If […]
Read more
CORN EARWORM THREATENS EARLY SILKING CORN European Corn Borer, Corn Earworm & Fall Armyworm Moths Caught This Week SITUATION Early corn planted under plastic mulch or rowcovers is silking in southern Maine, while early-mid season corn is now between whorl and pre-tassel. Most fields are very wet from all the rain and we are seeing […]
Read more
2023 SWEET CORN PEST SEASON BEGINS! European Corn Borer Active in Early Fields, Earworm Reported in Massachusetts The 2023 University of Maine Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for sweet corn is getting underway. We have set up pheromone traps at volunteer farms to monitor the adult (moth) stages of European corn borer, corn […]
Read more
Fruit thinners have finally taken effect. Where we applied chemical thinners in late May and early June, fruit became easy to remove around June 15. Additional fruit have since dropped. If your Honeycrisp blocks have good fruit set, repeat bloom enhancement sprays should begin soon if this is part of your protocol for reducing the […]
Read more
HARVEST BEGINS IN SOUTHERN MAINE Prolonged Wet Weather Continues to Make Diseases a Concern Situation: Continued cool, wet weather has slowed strawberry development, but some fruit is being harvested from southern beds grown on black plastic mulch and under rowcovers. However, late varieties are still in bloom in northern matted row plantings. Insect counts have […]
Read more
SPIDER MITE POPULATIONS HIGHER IN SOME FIELDS Tarnished Plant Bug and Clippers Still at Very Low Levels Situation: Insect pests remain at very low levels this week, but high mite populations have become more widespread around the state. Foliar diseases also remain at low levels, but this may change with anticipated wetter weather late this […]
Read more
Now that fruitlets are starting to show signs of fruit set and growth, decisions about whether or not to apply a thinner can be made if sufficient flowers survived the May 18th freeze. Highmoor Farm has a few orchards that had less than 20% damage, so fruit set looks heavy. In these orchards that seem to need […]
Read more
TWO SPOTTED SPIDER MITES REACH DAMAGING LEVELS Very Low Numbers of Tarnished Plant Bug and Clippers Situation: While visiting strawberry fields around the state this week, I was impressed with how well growers had protected strawberry flowers from the hard frost event last week. Most of the damage I saw was actually from an unexpected […]
Read more
CHALLENGING FROST SEASON THREATENS CROP Insect Pest Situation Very Quiet, Disease Pressure Increasing With Irrigation Events Situation: A frost event this week hit many strawberry fields just as they were coming into bloom, which is the stage at which they are most sensitive to cold temperatures. Fortunately, there was plenty of warning about the event, […]
Read more