Fruit and Vegetable News

Marissa Schuh,IPM extension educator. Brassicas are being harvested, and some growers are finding lots of holes in their cabbage, collards, and kale. In Minnesota we have three species of caterpillars that feed on the foliage of all our brassica crops. Read on to get to know these caterpillars and when it is worth managing them. Size alone isn’t enough for caterpillar ID. Diamondback moth is smooth, and tapered at each end. Imported cabbageworm is velvety. Cabbage looper and smooth and moves in an inchworm fashion. Photo: Marissa Schuh, University of Minnesota Extension. The three cole crop caterpillars we see in Minnesota are present from transplanting in May to final harvest in the fall.  The varying biology and multiple generations mean there is probably always some small green caterpillar feeding in your cole crops.  To manage them well, you need to be able to tell who is who. The first on the scene- Diamondback moth Diamondback moth is the first arrival most years, with l...

By: Michelle Grabowski, Minnesota Department of Agriculture A new wilt disease of edible ginger has been found in Minnesota on several farms in 2023 and 2024. Edible ginger (Zingiber officinale) is not a common field crop in Minnesota but has been planted by growers in high tunnels as a high value crop to use in rotation with tomatoes. In 2023, several ginger growers reported plants with yellow wilted leaves and soft rotten rhizomes. Infected plants were unmarketable. Lab diagnosis revealed the culprit to be Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum , the bacterial plant pathogen responsible for ginger wilt. Lower leaves of ginger plants infected with ginger wilt turn yellow then wilt. Photo: MDA This was the first report of ginger wilt in Minnesota. The disease is common in tropical and subtropical areas in Africa, Asia, and South America and is known to occur in Hawaii. The bacteria can infect ginger, turmeric, and other plants in the Zingiberaceae plant family. Ginger wilt can spread on contamin...

Author: Marissa Schuh , Integrated Pest Management Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension. Reviewed by Natalie Hoidal. Originally published 2021, review and updated 2024. We are starting to get reports of Aster Yellows, read on for more information on this disease and the insect that moves it around, aster leafhopper. Aster Leafhoppers Can Move Aster Yellows Around Aster leafhoppers are small, quick-moving, and innocuous in appearance.  They have piercing-sucking mouthparts that they use to feed on plant juices. Aster leafhoppers are small and yellow-green. Photo: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org While leafhoppers are often present in many crops, their direct feeding damage (referred to as hopperburn) doesn’t typically rise to economic levels.  When they do become a problem, it is because they are travelling with a disease called aster yellows.  Aster yellows infects and impacts many plant species, with crops of concern being carrots...

Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety With this very wet summer, some farms in Minnesota have seen significant flooding damage. Flooding can be detrimental to crops for a number of reasons, including potentially introducing chemical and microbial risks to the fresh produce that can then cause human illness if ingested.  Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when you are considering the safety of your produce after a flooding event.    Image courtesy of Produce Safety Alliance and Keith McCall,  of the National Resource Conservation Service Food Safety Risks with Flooding First, remember that according to the FDA, floodwater is defined as the water that has come onto your property from a source off the property. It is not just heavy rain falling and pooling around your plants, or a sprinkler left on overnight.  The risks from flood waters that come in two main categories:  human microbiological pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and par...