Author: James Jasinski

Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day – Wooster OH

The nation’s premier event for mechanical weeding tools – will take place on Wednesday, September 27, at The Ohio State University, CFAES Wooster campus.

Here is the general information for the event:
When: Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Where: OSU Wooster Campus, 1680 Madison Ave, Wooster, OH 44691
How Much: $50 (includes lunch)
Register online at:
https://thelandconnection.regfox.com/2023-midwest-mechanical-weed-control-field-day

Field day photo.

Register by calling Crystal at (217) 840-2128.

A full day of weeding tool demonstrations, trade show, and cultivation education for both vegetables and row crops! At the morning Expo trade show you can see weeding tools and speak with company reps from manufacturers in the US, Europe, and Japan, and meet the farmers in attendance from all over the region plus learn from experienced farmers and university weed scientists from surrounding states during the roundtable discussions – topics range from camera-guided cultivators to tine-weeders. A walk-behind tractor exhibition – ‘Walk-Behind Alley’ -features demonstrations of walk-behind tractors and implements from the past and present. You can also visit the trade show exhibit booths to meet other supply companies, like equipment dealers for all manner of machinery, seed, tools, fertilizers, and soils.

At noon, the field day will break for lunch – an opportunity for farmers to meet and network, or continue looking at trade show equipment and speaking with exhibitors. In the afternoon farmers follow the tractors out to the demonstration field, where corn, beets, and brassicas have been planted especially for the demonstrations. Myriad 3-point, camera-guided, autonomous, and belly-mounted cultivators and cultivating tractors will be demonstrated in the field and explained by manufacturers. These demonstrations will show how the machines should be mounted and properly adjusted according to crop and soil conditions, and will help farmers visualize how the implements can work on their own farms.

Row-crop tools in demonstration include precision-controlled tine-weeders and several types of camera-guided cultivators with finger weeders and all manner of other tooling – see all types of knives, hilling discs, etc. Demonstrations will be held in 5’’ corn. Check the field day website for a current listing of exhibitors and tools.

Vegetable weeding tools include cultivating tractors past and present, 3-point in-row camera guided machines, a variety of belly-mounted and rear-mounted steerable tools, and cultivators from Japan! Demonstrations will be held in 2’’ beets and transplanted brassicas. Check the field day website for a current listing of exhibitors and tools.

Registration for this full-day of learning and networking on mechanical weed control is just $50! Registration includes lunch and all the machinery demos you can handle. It is recommended that everyone register early as each year space runs out.

Inquiries for interviews on radio, print, and beyond are welcomed – Please reach out to Sam Oschwald Tilton, sam.oschwaldtilt@wisc.edu, or 920-917-9788.

Pumpkin Field Day – Aug. 24, 5:30pm – only 13 days left!

We are less than two weeks from the annual Pumpkin Field Day! Read below about the types of presentations at the field day and don’t forget to pre-register!

Fruit infected with virus.

If you are a new grower or have been growing pumpkins and squash for a few years, this field day is for you!

This year the Pumpkin Field Day will be on held on Thursday, August 24, starting promptly at 5:30pm ending at 8pm. The location remains at the Western Ag Research Station, 7721 S. Charleston Pike, South Charleston OH.

Topics include vole and mouse management (Gary Comer Jr. – ODNR), weed management (Chris Galbraith – MSU/OSU), pollinator protection and insect management (Ashley Leach – OSU), and powdery mildew fungicide trial (Jim Jasinski – OSU).  There will be a small hybrid trial to also visit after the talks (small because mice and voles ate most of the seed and seedlings!). And plenty of discussion with the specialists and fellow growers during the field day.

We will provide refreshments and handouts, cost is $5 per person.

You need to pre-register for this event at https://go.osu.edu/pumpkinreg2023

Hope to see you out there!

Field Day Flyer

Pumpkin Field Day – August 24, 5:30PM

If you are a new grower or have been growing pumpkins and squash for a few years, this field day is for you!

Pumpkin flower.

This year the Pumpkin Field Day will be on held on Thursday, August 24, starting promptly at 5:30pm ending at 8pm. The location remains at the Western Ag Research Station, 7721 S. Charleston Pike, South Charleston OH.

Topics include vole and mouse management (Gary Comer Jr. – ODNR), weed management (Chris Galbraith – MSU/OSU), pollinator protection and insect management (Ashley Leach – OSU), and powdery mildew fungicide trial (Jim Jasinski – OSU).  There will be a small hybrid trial to also visit after the talks (small because mice and voles ate most of the seed and seedlings!). And plenty of discussion with the specialists and fellow growers during the field day.

We will provide refreshments and handouts, cost is $5 per person.

You need to pre-register for this event at https://go.osu.edu/pumpkinreg2023

Hope to see you out there!

Field Day Flyer – 

Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day returns!

The nation’s premier event for mechanical weeding tools – will take place on Wednesday, September 27, at The Ohio State University, CFAES Wooster campus.

Field day photo.

A full day of weeding tool demonstrations, trade show, and cultivation education for both vegetables and row crops! At the morning Expo trade show you can see weeding tools and speak with company reps from manufacturers in the US, Europe, and Japan, and meet the farmers in attendance from all over the region plus learn from experienced farmers and university weed scientists from surrounding states during the roundtable discussions – topics range from camera-guided cultivators to tine-weeders. A walk-behind tractor exhibition – ‘Walk-Behind Alley’ -features demonstrations of walk-behind tractors and implements from the past and present. You can also visit the trade show exhibit booths to meet other supply companies, like equipment dealers for all manner of machinery, seed, tools, fertilizers, and soils.

At noon, the field day will break for lunch – an opportunity for farmers to meet and network, or continue looking at trade show equipment and speaking with exhibitors. In the afternoon farmers follow the tractors out to the demonstration field, where corn, beets, and brassicas have been planted especially for the demonstrations. Myriad 3-point, camera-guided, autonomous, and belly-mounted cultivators and cultivating tractors will be demonstrated in the field and explained by manufacturers. These demonstrations will show how the machines should be mounted and properly adjusted according to crop and soil conditions, and will help farmers visualize how the implements can work on their own farms.

Row-crop tools in demonstration include precision-controlled tine-weeders and several types of camera-guided cultivators with finger weeders and all manner of other tooling – see all types of knives, hilling discs, etc. Demonstrations will be held in 5’’ corn. Check the field day website for a current listing of exhibitors and tools.

Vegetable weeding tools include cultivating tractors past and present, 3-point in-row camera guided machines, a variety of belly-mounted and rear-mounted steerable tools, and cultivators from Japan! Demonstrations will be held in 2’’ beets and transplanted brassicas. Check the field day website for a current listing of exhibitors and tools.

Registration for this full-day of learning and networking on mechanical weed control is just $50! Registration includes lunch and all the machinery demos you can handle. It is recommended that everyone register early as each year space runs out.

Here is the general information for the event:
When: Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Where: OSU Wooster Campus, 1680 Madison Ave, Wooster, OH 44691
How Much: $50 (includes lunch) Register online at:
https://thelandconnection.regfox.com/2023-midwest-mechanical-weed-control-field-day

For more info on the event or to register by phone, contact Crystal
at crystal@thelandconnection.org or (217) 840-2128. Inquiries for interviews on radio, print, and beyond are welcomed – Please reach out to Sam Oschwald Tilton, sam.oschwaldtilt@wisc.edu, or 920-917-9788.

Interested in exhibiting your products and connecting with farmers at the field day? Visit here

Striped Cucumber Beetles Appearing Soon at a Field Near YOU!

Jim Jasinski (Extension), Ashley Leach (Entomology)

It’s been cool and wet in most of Ohio slowing most planting schedules but cucurbit planting is poised to hit it’s stride toward the end of May through mid-June. This means growers need to be on the lookout for the primary early season pest of pumpkin, squash, melons, cucumbers and zucchini, the striped cucumber beetle.

Striped cucumber beetle adult.

These adult beetles are overwintering now but will begin actively searching for cucurbit seedlings to feed on, sometimes inflicting severe enough damage to outright kill plants. Recall that while seedlings can survive and outgrow minor beetle damage, it is key to avoid severe damage to seedlings in order to prevent bacterial wilt transmission while the plants are most susceptible, typically prior to the 3-4 leaf stage. Bacterial wilt infected plants will become symptomatic once there is high demand to translocate water from the roots to the shoots, such as the time of fruit enlargement. No treatments are available to reduce bacterial wilt once a plant is infected.

Bacterial wilt infected plant in foreground, healthy plant in background.

Scouting newly emerged cucurbit plantings every few days is essential to determine if enough beetles or damage is occurring to warrant treatment. Action thresholds vary from 0.5 – 1 beetle per plant for cotyledon and 1st leaf stage seedlings to 1-2 beetles per plant for 3-4 leaf stage seedlings. Scout about 50 plants in both edge and interior areas throughout the field, flipping over leaves and especially looking under cotyledons to accurately determine beetle pressure and damage.

Severely damage cotyledon by striped cucumber beetle feeding.

Foliar insecticide recommendations for all cucurbit crops can be found in the Midwest Vegetable Production Guide (https://mwveguide.org/uploads/pdfs/Cucurbit-Crops.pdf).

To prepare for the arrival of striped cucumber beetles, consider reviewing a short but detailed video of several management options (beetles/plant thresholds, systemic seed treatment, use of transplants and in-furrow application) posted to the OSU IPM YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/RSzTT_gbma4).

A quick word about using insecticides to manage early season beetle populations. Based on your farm history with damage from this pest, field size, time of direct seeding or transplanting, you may not experience peak beetle pressure and can manage this pest by frequently scouting seedlings and treating if over threshold, the old fashioned IPM method!

If you purchased systemic insecticide coated seed (FarMore FI 400) which is very effective at controlling beetles, as evidenced by the pile of dead cucumber beetles on and near the treated plant, be aware that trace residues will accumulate in the pollen and nectar. If foraging honey bees, bumble bees, squash bees and other pollinators collect these food resources they may not be outright killed but more subtle sub-lethal effects on brood such as reduced feeding, fewer wax cells constructed, fewer eggs laid and other effects might occur. So, decisions about pesticide selection, pest severity, timing and non-target impacts should be considered before use.

Dead cucumber beetles at base of systemic insecticide treated plant. Courtesy of Celeste Welty.

If using FarMore FI 400 treated seed to raise transplants, do not treat them again with a systemic insecticide product during field setting as this will increase the residues found in pollen and nectar. If applying systemic products in-furrow, using the lowest labeled rate will still provide great beetle control for 2-3 weeks.

Mustard Project to Help Pollinators  

Jim Jasinski (OSU Extension), Chia Lin & Reed Johnson (OSU Entomology), Hongmei Li-Byarlay (Central State University)

Brassica cover crops like mustard (Brassica juncea) and rapeseed (Brassica napus) can be a good fit in some production systems, providing a range of benefits such as soil health, soil biofumigation and pollinator health.

Blooming mustard crop.

Recently it was reported that the natural biocides (glucosinolate compounds) produced by mustard plants could mitigate infections of Nosema (a fungal parasite) in honey bee colonies.  If glucosinolates are present in mustard pollen, mustard blossoms may provide the dual benefits of food source and disease control for honey bees.

To test that hypothesis, a two-year multi-site research project led by Dr. Chia Lin was recently funded to look at the effects of spring (mid-April) and late summer (late July) planted mustard as a cover crop to provide abundant pollen to foraging bees in order to measure specific effects on colony health. Both lab and field studies will be used to identify how much mustard pollen is collected by the bees and beneficial aspects of the targeted mustard planting on reducing Nosema impact on honey bees and improving winter survival of bee colonies.  Stay tuned for updates on this project.

Mustard cover crop emerging from one of the research sites.

HAL 9000 Meets Insect Monitoring: Introducing Trapview Camera Traps

Delta style Trapview trap in apple orchard with solar charger, humidity sensor and antennae.

Jim Jasinski, Frank Becker (Extension); Ashley Leach (Entomology)

Well, not quite HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Ohio State University IPM Program and Department of Entomology have maintained an insect pest monitoring network for over three decades. Typically, pests are monitored using either sticky traps, scent-based traps or pheromone traps.

As trapping technology has evolved, OSU is now experimenting with Trapview camera traps that purport to identify pests captured internally on sticky film using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software. Each AI identified pest is then reviewed and verified by a trained employee for accuracy. While the camera based traps are relatively expensive compared to traditional monitoring traps ($650 apiece), they require very little maintenance except pheromone lure replacement. The cost savings will come from time saved physically inspecting the trap every few days or weekly throughout the season. The number of pests identified by the AI is tallied per day and shown on a website and app, along with a picture of the pests on the sticky panel inside the trap.

Trapview representative shows trap setup features.

Through a grant from Ohio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and Development Program, five Trapview traps will be evaluated at three locations (Wooster (3), Celeryville (1), South Charleston (1)) on three different pests (Corn earworm (2), Grape berry moth (1), Codling moth (2)) compared to the standard trap for each pest. Updates on how well these AI based traps compare to standard traps will be reported at various times throughout the season.

Image capture inside Trapview trap. Insects caught are non-targets, otherwise they would be highlighted by green box indicating positive ID.

Insect Management & Vegetable IPM Survey – Last Call

Researchers at Purdue University and the College of Wooster are requesting responses from vegetable growers in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions to learn more about their insect pest management practices to help direct pest management research and extension programs in specialty crop production!

QR code to participate in survey

Spotted-wing Drosophila Webinar

Spotted-wing Drosophila is an invasive pest Ohio strawberry, peach, bramble and blue berry growers have been forced to deal with since 2011. This SWD team webinar will review the most recent information and tools for managing this pest. See details below.

We are excited to announce the 2022 SCRI NIFA Spotted-Wing Drosophila Management Team Webinar on Thursday, December 8th, 2022 at 12:00pm EST. This one hour webinar, titled “Advances in Behavior-Based Tactics for Management of Spotted-Wing Drosophila” will focus on behavioral control with a brief update on biological control. Researchers will present recent findings as well as highlight recent advancements in behavior-based strategies to control spotted-wing drosophila.

To register for this webinar, please follow this link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WSqvqIkESmWY0Lv_p40Oig

SWD webinar details

2022 Pumpkin and Squash Hybrid Trial Results

What better day to post the pumpkin and squash hybrid trial results than Halloween?

A pumpkin and squash hybrid demonstration trial was conducted at the Western Ag Research Station in South Charleston, OH. In order to have mature fruit for the late August field day, the following longer season hybrids were seeded early and transplanted on May 31: Giltedge Gold, Quigley Gold, Igor, Bannack Gold, Death Star, Tons of Fun, Sweet Baby Jane, Spartacus, Garnet Gold, Fireball, Autumn Frost and Icicle. The remaining eight hybrids were also direct seeded on May 31, bringing the total number of hybrids in the trial to 20. Hybrids in the trial included traditional orange jack-o-lantern fruit, other colorful or textured fruit, various edible ornamental squash types, and some recently released hybrids (Table 1).

The trial focuses on demonstrating host plant resistance to powdery mildew, as well as observing general plant health and vine growth. A second function of the trial is to evaluate hybrid fruit size, shape, color, etc. and to obtain some estimates of yield, average fruit weight and number of fruit per acre based on our production methods.

Each plot in the trial was 60’ long and planted on 15’ row centers (0.02A per plot). There was no replication of the plots, all data was collected from a single plot. In-row plant spacing was set at 3.5’ for all hybrids. Despite using FarMore FI400 treated seeds when possible some additional seedling losses occurred due to bacterial wilt infections. Some plants were also lost to mid-season infestations of squash vine borer. Reduced stand is noted in Table 1.

For weed control, Strategy (4pt) plus Dual (1.3pt) plus glyphosate (32oz) per acre was applied pre-emergent followed by Sandea (1oz/A) between the rows prior to the vines running. Hand hoeing and pulling on weekly basis prevented major weed escapes. Based on soil sampling no P or K was applied but ca. 75 lb N was sidedressed using 28-0-0 on June 24.

Table 1. Hybrids in trial and associated development notes. * = reduced stand, BW = bacterial wilt, BLS = bacterial leaf spot

Harvest data was collected on September 1 as the majority of plots showed 95+% mature fruit. From each plot, four representative fruit were clipped and weighed, with all other remaining mature and immature fruit counted and used to estimate yield data per acre. Please keep in mind this report only provides an estimate of yield and fruit potential based on our production methods which are likely quite different than traditional production farms. If harvest was delayed a few weeks later in the season, yield estimates would likely increase as immature fruit become mature.

Table 2. Hybrid trial yield data. * = reduced stand.

For powdery and downy mildew control, fungicides were initially applied July 25 but then re-applied on a 7-10 day schedule throughout the season following proper resistance management rotation guidelines. The last application was made on August 26. Spray applications were made at 36 GPA and 65 PSI using hollow cone nozzles.

 A group photo of all the fruit in the trial can be found in Figure 1, with a basketball and softball for size reference.

Figure 1. Group shot of 2022 pumpkin and squash fruit with basketball and softball as a size reference. On straw bales (L to R) Giltedge Gold, Lemonade, Eros, Fireball, Hermes, Garnet Gold, Spartacus. Large fruit in front of straw bales (L to R) Quigley Gold, Tons of Fun, Igor, Bannack Gold, Death Star, Sweet Baby Jane. Small fruit in front of straw bales (L to R) Autumn Frost, Autumn Pearl, Fort Knox, Winter Blush, Moon Stacker, Icicle, Warty Gnome.

If you have any questions about the trial, please feel free to contact Jim Jasinski, Jasinski.4@osu.edu.