Here is what I’ve been seeing in the various fields and plots at the Western Ag Research Station.
Pumpkin & Squash
Barely there powdery mildew on pumpkin.
Powdery mildew is very slow to take hold even in the susceptible plots thus far, barely averaging a few percent in untreated checks. Normally this time of year we have fairly moderate pressure and can see significant differences between treated and untreated foliage. Not seeing any symptoms of downy mildew in either pumpkin or squash despite it being reported in northern Ohio earlier this week. Striped cucumber beetles and squash bugs are not that bad at the station currently, perhaps I just jinxed my plots? There are at least a handful of bacterial wilt infected plants and several squash vine borer successfully attacked the plants in my various trials, oh well there is always next year.
Hartstack trap
Sweet Corn
The multi-state Bt sweet corn trial is up and running at the station for fifth or sixth year in a row; right now the late planted crop is just beginning to tassel and should be ready to harvest for ear and kernel damage in early September. The trial has shown in past years that most Bt traited sweet corn hybrids are not very effective against controlling corn earworm, the main pest of interest, without targeted insecticide sprays to protect the fresh silks. Only those hybrids that contain the Vip3A gene/trait are effective against CEW but due to the pressure on this single trait, erosion of control is slowly being detected. Very few European corn borer larvae or other caterpillars are found during the destructive sampling protocol of 100-200 ears per hybrid. In fact, very few ECB moths have been captured this year at the station.
Heliothis trap
There is also a study on the station comparing three types of CEW traps; Scentry Heliothis (plastic mesh), Hartstack (metal mesh) and Trapview AI (camera trap). We are focused on comparing the capture rates of these three traps to see how similar they are so that recommendations and spray guidelines developed over years of research can be faithfully applied. What’s so special about the Trapview AI trap? It doesn’t require any human intervention during the season except to change the lure every two weeks. It accomplishes this by taking nightly pictures of moths stuck to the sticky film inside the trap which are then sent for AI identification and finally confirmed by a human before being reported to the app for viewing. So far, the Heliothis and Trapview traps are behaving similarly with respect to trap catches; the Hartstack is catching many more moths as expected. As is generally the case in mid-August, the CEW catches begin to climb so if there are fresh silks out there, a series of protective sprays every 3-5 days may be warranted.
Trapview AI
Sunflower
Deer browsing leaves?
Deer browsing seedlings?
High oleic oilseed sunflower research plots have been planted at three research stations (Northwest, Western and Wooster) this year as both a full season crop and as a double crop after wheat or barley is harvested. This year like last year, we are seeing lower than expected stand populations and are trying to determine the causes which might include mechanical and biological processes. Unlike last year, we seem to have deer or some other animal browsing the early planted sunflower leaves which does not appear to pose a significant risk to the plants. During stand counts on the double cropped sunflower trial yesterday, feeding was detected in several seedling plots where the tops of the plants were grazed off. This will affect final stand populations and ultimately yield. Both plots this year are nearer to a large wooded section on the Western Ag Research Station, which may explain the damage which was not seen in 2022.