Never Let ‘Em Set SeedSwede Midge With shortening days and cooling temperatures, lots of annual weeds are registering these environmental cues as a directive to produce as many mature seeds as they possibly can before their time runs out. Andrew Radin at URI recently wrote about each weed plant’s potential contribution to your weed seedbank,
European Corn Borer In Peppers (Among Others)Winter Squash Looks Ready; Should I Harvest? Farmers and gardeners are truly seeing the fruits of their labors now, with all manner of crops being harvested! As the harvesting season continues and you start to get the harvesting itch while looking at your winter squash, make sure it’s
Good summer conditions have left many of us forgiving and forgetting the cold and wet start to the growing season. However, some of the ramifications from the winter and spring are still showing themselves. Vern Grubinger wrote a nice summary of mummyberry for highbush blueberries, that he allowed me to share here. It’s too late
Thanks to everyone that have been passing along their pest sightings. If you’d like a refresher you can always refer back to previous reports, as potato leaf hopper reports have been coming in, basil downy mildew has been identified in a couple locations in the state, and folks have been finding three-lined potato beetles and
Squash vine borer moths have been caught in monitoring traps in New Hampshire, indicating that adults are likely to be flying and laying eggs in Maine soon. Similarly, early sightings of cabbage aphids have occurred in Massachusetts, so it’s best to start scouting for them if you’ve had problems with them before. Cutworms have been
Potato leafhoppers have been found in Massachusetts. Waiting for visible damage to show on your plants is too late for avoiding yield losses, so if you grow beans, potatoes, eggplants, strawberries or hops, now is the time to start scouting for them. Basil downy mildew was found in Rhode Island and on Long Island recently,
The long days of June have found us. If all other needs are met, plant growth rate is determined by a combination of both light and temperature. Which is a round about way of saying, I hope the long-awaited summer temperatures combined with June’s long days will soon have crop growth coming on like gangbusters!
It seems that warmer spring temperatures have finally found us, hurray! That of course also means that warmer temperatures are waking up pests. Flea beetles have shown up in force in southern New England, but are likely to be truly ramping up their activity now that we have some more favorable temperatures. Combine that with
As longtime readers will have already noticed, this is the first Pest Report to come from myself and not Eric Sideman. Though Eric has handed over the reins to the Pest Report, we are glad to have him continuing his work for MOFGA part time! Though it goes without saying for us here in Maine,
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