IPM Update

Since the Plant and Pest Advisory Newsletter, Vegetable edition is not being sent today, what follows is a shortened version of the IPM Update which normally appears in it.

European corn borer – State wide captures in traps are very low.  Highest catches, still less than 1 per night occur in Gloucester and Cape May Counties.  Larval infestations are declining in sweet corn as the population ages.  Second generation moths begin flying at 1200 degree days (base 50) which has been reached across the state now.

Corn earworm – Blacklight counts are very low in the northern half of the state.  Populations are higher in the southern half of the state.  The highest counts occur in Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May Counties.  Silk spraying schedules given below:

North Jersey – 5 day schedule

Central Jersey – 4 to 5 day schedule

South Jersey – 3 to 4 day schedule

Brown marmorated stinkbug – Very low counts in north Jersey but numbers increase in southern Jersey.  Only one site in the state, in Salem County, exceeds 5 stinkbugs per night.  No reports of vegetable damage, as yet.

Beet armyworm – Counts remain low with the highest counts of 5 per night occurring in Atlantic and Cape May Counties.

Yellow striped armyworm – We normally don’t track this insect pest but at least one blacklight trap in Salem County shows large numbers of moths being caught.  We may see another large larval population in the next generation of caterpillars.

Joe Ingerson-Mahar

Yellow striped armyworm and black cutworm

-Joe Ingerson-Mahar

• Yellow striped armyworm caterpillars were widespread over the state and at times abundant earlier this year.  Now, at least in some areas there seems to be a large flight of yellow striped armyworm moths, which may portend another significant larval population in July and August. 
• Black cutworm moths are flying now which means that their caterpillars will also be feeding on plants in July and August, as well.

Farm Food Safety: Compliance Documentation – Storage and Transportation Logs

Part 8 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

- Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

The USDA Good Agricultural Practices audit requires that certain activities on the farm be documented. These logs should accurately reflect what you have done on the farm to ensure food safety. If you do not write your activities down the auditor will assume that the activity never happened. This documentation may be new for many growers, so making it as easy as possible for you to comply will ensure that the documenting happens in a manner that is acceptable to an auditor. This is the eighth article in a series dedicated to preparing a farm food safety plan. Remember you may not need a third party audit; it depends on who is purchasing your produce. However, everyone should have a food safety plan.