Fruit and Vegetable News

The UMN Extension IPM program sets traps for black cutworm Agrostis ipsilon Hufnagel (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) around the state each year, which are monitored by Extension educator Bruce Potter and a team of volunteers. In 2019, high numbers have been observed across the state but particularly in Southern MN. Coupled with late planting dates, cutworms may pose a challenge to growers this year. 
While cutworm is typically considered a corn pest, they can cause damage to vegetable crops as well. While most reports have cited cutworm feeding on plants in the cucurbit family (cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons), they also feed on beets, carrots, cucumber, leafy greens, peas, potato, pumpkin, snap beans, and sweet corn. Black cutworm moths fly north to Minnesota from early May through June, and lay their eggs in and around fields. As the larvae develop over approximately a one month period (with six to nine larval instars), they damage plants by feeding on the roots and stems, and young plants …

In episode 21 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we talked to Courtney Tchida, farm manager at Cornercopia student organic farm. Courtney has been trying various weed management methods over the years, and has recently been experimenting with solarization using standard plastic as well as used billboards (as in billboards from roadside advertising!). Courtney shared her insight on how well these methods work, labor and equipment costs, convenience, and more. 

Click here to listen to the episode.You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 
You can find all previous episodes on FruitEdge.
What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into…

In episode 18 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we talked to Linda Chalker-Scott, a horticulturalist with Washington State University. The internet lays many claims about the benefits of numerous "alternative" or "natural" remedies for pest management and plant health. How do we know which methods are backed up by science, and which are not? In this episode, Linda lays out ways growers can determine if claims about natural products are accurate and effective. We use epsom salts and compost tea as two examples.

This episode is being re-posted from December 2018. We are still getting the hang of posting correctly so that our podcasts are compatible with other forums; this should fix our feed so that all of our episodes end up on iTunes and Stitcher!

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 
You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.
What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast pr…

In episode 17 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? Annie and Natalie discuss pesticides labeled for use in organic systems. In this episode, Natalie discusses the importance of thinking about pesticide safety on all fruit and vegetable farms, including organic farms with organic pesticide products. She also lays out the results of the fruit and vegetable pesticide use survey that was distributed by UMN Extension to fruit and vegetable growers throughout 2018.

This episode is being re-posted from December 2018. We are still getting the hang of posting correctly so that our podcasts are compatible with other forums; this should fix our feed so that all of our episodes end up on iTunes and Stitcher!

Click here to listen to the episode.You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 
You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.
What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the …

DriftWatch is a state program that allows specialty crop growers to indicate the locations of their fields on a map so that pesticide applicators can take precautions to avoid crop injury due to spray drift. In Minnesota, Larry VanLieshout is the coordinator for the DriftWatch program. He has provided the following information about how to best utilize DriftWatch for your farm:
Let pesticide applicators know where your pesticide sensitive crops (and beehives) are located by using DriftWatch.
DriftWatch (and BeeCheck) are free, voluntary online registries that that allow specialty crop producers to communicate the location of their pesticide-sensitive sites to pesticide applicators. Applicators can then take precautions to avoid injury due to spray drift. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, and organic produce. (BeeCheck is a version of DriftWatch for beekeepers, who do not also have other specialty crops.)
This communication is done by indicating the location of the sensitive …

Authors: Bill Hutchison, Eric Burkness, Lu Yin, and Matt Clark. The foliar form of Grape Phylloxera (GP) is quite common throughout Minnesota and most eastern grape growing regions of the U.S. Although we have experienced a late spring so far this year, the first grape leaves for most hybrids have started to appear; this is a good time to begin monitoring for the “yellow crawler” stage of GP, as the crawlers hatch from their “mother” galls (including a female with several eggs, Fig. 1).
Grape Phylloxera Life Cycle In brief, the GP life cycle is quite complex, with galls formed on both root and foliar portions of the vine. However, given the genetic background of the cold-hardy grape hybrids in the Midwest region, the primary potential for damage is the presence of foliar galls formed by GP. Much of this information is taken from a recent publication by one of our graduate students in Horticultural Science, Lu Yin (Yin et al. 2019; see full citation below).
Following the hatch of overw…