Based on my research trials over the years I am recommending couple of important pre-and post-harvest evaluation steps to reduce post-harvest losses due to this pathogen: Please avoid picking melons from low-spots in your field. Please pick your healthy looking fields first followed by problematic fields Please pay attention to any water-soaked spots on fruit…

Based on the multi-year field screens that were conducted in 2018 and 2019 in Tifton there are handful for commercially acceptable snap bean varieties with at least moderate-level of resistance to cucurbit leaf crumple disease (Table 1).  There were no varieties with high-level of resistance.  Of those with moderate-level of resistance there were several from…

I received a question this week about spraying for spider mites and protecting honey bees. First and foremost, spider mite problems are frequently a result of repeated application of broad-spectrum insecticides. Don’t apply these products without a specific need. That said, spider mites have become a more consistent problem in the past decade and are…

Potential Options for Managing Frost-damage in Vegetable Crops (Coolong and Dutta) Because of the potential for an upcoming frost this week on newly planted vegetable transplants we are sure you are getting questions from concerned growers.  I have attached a link to a publication on frost and freeze protection https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/B%201479_1.PDF  that, while heavily focused on fruit,…

Please see the link to access the extension bulletin: https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=b1534.

We have detected insensitivity of Colletotrichum sp. (causal agent of anthracnose of cucurbits) to FRAC group 11 fungicides (Quadris and Cabrio) in multiple commercial fields in GA. Further confirmation in our lab indicated that 70 to 80% of the isolates are either highly resistant or moderately resistant to Quadris and Cabrio. These observations suggest that managing anthracnose…

The outlook for problems with whitefly transmitted viruses does not look good for fall 2020 vegetable crops. Several viruses were reported at low levels at the end of the spring crops and have already been detected in early fall crops/experiments. This combined with rapidly increasing whitefly populations (and continued hot, dry weather) indicates we will…

I believe everyone knows that whitefly populations have been building dramatically the last few weeks. Whiteflies love hot dry weather and reproduce rapidly under our current conditions. While we are probably not as bad as we were in 2017 (maybe a month behind), we are far ahead of the last two years. Populations are higher…