Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs
A few weeks ago we started trapping for Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs to catch their mid-season reproduction and movement toward preferred vegetable and fruit crops where they can feed and cause significant mid to late season injury. There were spikes of nymphs and a smaller surge of adults from the week before in Adams and Greene county, while Wayne, Lake and Huron counties remain at zero reported detections.

Spotted wing Drosophila
Catches of these insects in berry crops continue to be high in Greene and Geauga counties. With a treatment threshold of one adult per site, individual trap catches have ranged between 10 and 124 adults per week. Even with properly timed insecticide sprays and picking ripe fruit every two days if possible will not completely prevent damage to fruit, but it will be minimized. Berries must be protected until harvest is over or severe losses may be seen.

Corn Earworm

Corn earworm adults filled trap in two days.

For any mid to late season sweet corn, expect the next month or two to bring peak corn earworm flights from southern parts of the US, predominantly on storm fronts. Corn earworm populations have climbed this past week in Clark, Huron, and Lake counties and remain present in Wayne and Putnam counties. Zero CEW moths were reported trapped in Sandusky and Seneca counties.

Keys to successfully monitoring  CEW require the trap be placed at ear height near fresh silking corn and to change the pheromone lure every two weeks. Failure to do both will result in lower moths captured and a perceived lower threat of infestation leading to a wider spray interval and higher kernel damage and more caterpillars in the ears. In Clark county the trap total was 7 CEW for one week of captures with the trap emptied on 8/11 and moved to a new location about 1/4 mile away on the same farm near silking corn. The CEW trap was checked today (two days later) and captured several hundred moths (see picture at right).

European Corn Borer
This pest is still at low levels across the state according to our monitoring network, with Clark, Sandusky, Seneca, Wayne, Putnam and Wood counties reporting zero moths captured. Only Gauega and Huron counties have reported captures this past week (5 moths and 1 moth respectively). I was sent images of a bell pepper field in southern Ohio that had what appears to be a heavy infestation of corn borer caterpillars in the cap and stem of the fruit but no larvae or frass could be found in the fruit. As other crops begin to dry down, ECB will look for many other crops to lay eggs and cause potential feeding injury to the plant or fruit, so keep vigilant for that pest.

To see what other pests are doing, check out the OSU pest monitoring network at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KLU8rEoaz1Cnt9ILbUf77tSxOIriwZR0Xtj-wwNZgDA/edit?usp=sharing

Vegetable Crops

Powdery mildew found on a cucurbit plant in a Wayne County field.

The Vegetable Pathology Lab at OARDC has confirmed several more cases of downy mildew, on both cucumbers and cantaloupe. It is important to take steps to either protect your crop or stop the spread of any ongoing infections. Powdery mildew is also spreading rapidly through the area. Although some heavy rains may have slowed its spread, favorable conditions have led to some fields rapidly becoming infected.

Flea beetles feeding on young green cabbage plants.

Bacterial diseases continue to spread in pepper and tomato plantings. Pay close attention to these crops in particular, and make sure that you are taking the necessary precautions so as to not spread bacterial diseases. Bacteria can be spread from plant to plant via clothing, equipment, or animals. More from APS

Flea beetles are feeding heavily on recently planted cole crops, which left uncontrolled can cause stunted and underperforming plants. Another insect we have seen quite a few of is the squash vine borer. Although these are not typically going to harm large numbers of plants, they can still be a nuisance, especially in smaller plantings.

Small Fruit and Orchards

 This week we found our first incidence of scab in apples. While this was only an isolated find on a few leaves, it is a good reminder to take some time to scout your apple trees and look for any signs of scab. Oriental fruit moth numbers were significantly above threshold again this week. Japanese beetles were also

Severe damage from Japanese beetles feeding on the foliage of apple trees.

still feeding heavily in many of the fruit crops we scout. Spotted wing drosophila are still being found in all of our traps, and for anyone with small fruit in the area, it is recommended that you treat for SWD.

Vegetable Crops

Of most importance, the Vegetable Pathology Lab in Wooster confirmed Downy Mildew on a cucumber plot at OARDC. Cucumber growers are highly encouraged to begin taking action to protect their plants, especially as more cases are confirmed around the area.

Squash vine borer on a pumpkin plant. Tommy Becker photo.

Japanese beetles are out in force this year and continue to be one of the most consistent insect pests from week to week on a wide range of crops. Other insect pests of note included Colorado Potato Beetles that have migrated off of harvested potato plantings in into tomato and eggplant plantings. In squash, we have still been finding quite a few squash bug egg masses. Squash Vine Borers have also been spotted in some area pumpkin plantings.

Colorado Potato Beetles feeding on a tomato plant. Tommy Becker photo.

During these heavy rains, we have noticed a significant amount of soil splashed up onto the plants and fruit. This will likely encourage more disease incidence. Accordingly, take extra time and care to scout your crops in the coming weeks.

Sweet corn pests like corn ear worm and European corn borer are not showing much activity in our traps. We occasionally find damaged tassels from ECB feeding, however, we have yet to have any fields go over the 10% damage threshold.

Small Fruit and Orchards

 Between last week and this week, we have seen a sustained flight of oriental fruit moth in area peach blocks as our traps have been well over threshold for the last two weeks. Our codling moth traps still do not show much activity.

Over ripe Lodi apple that had spilt following a heavy rain.

We did find some interesting things while scouting apples this week, including blister spot on some “Delicious” apple varieties and Lodi apples that had burst and fell off the trees due to being over ripe.

As a note for all small fruit growers, all of our traps for SWD in the area are currently catching SWD, therefore, we recommend you treat your small fruit. Pay close attention to the label, especially the REI (re-entry interval) and PHI (pre-harvest interval). Another note for all fruit crops, Japanese beetles are feeding on grapes, apples, peaches, and blueberries. The beetles can do significant defoliation as well as damage to the fruit.

Vegetable Crops

High tunnel tomatoes were one of the areas of focus for disease development this past week. Many high tunnel tomatoes are currently experiencing cases of leaf mold. As a side note on high tunnel tomatoes, we did observe a thrips outbreak in a high tunnel, where heavy feeding by the thrips was causing significant discoloration of the foliage and stunting of the plants. Peppers took the other majority of the focus with disease development, mainly due to favorable conditions for bacterial diseases to manifest. Several pepper samples tested positive for bacterial infection.

Flea beetles seemed to make a comeback this week. Several fields of cole crops were over threshold for flea beetle counts. Japanese beetles are continuing to feed in the majority of the crops planted in the area. Other insects like squash bugs are starting to be found more frequently, specifically in early planted summer squash.

Sticking with cucurbits, we are starting to find spots of powdery mildew in plantings of zucchini and yellow squash. It is important to scout your crops and look for powdery mildew, especially if you have succession plantings of young cucurbit crops nearby. Powdery mildew is easily spread onto younger plants, so it is recommended that you keep up with spraying for powdery mildew and terminate the older infected plantings once you are done harvesting.

Small Fruit and Orchards

 First and foremost, we have found spotted winged drosophila in the Wayne County area. The threshold for SWD in small fruit is 1 fly. Since we are now finding adults, we encourage growers to also do salt tests on the berries to check for larvae.

Wooly apple aphids continue to show up in the several apple orchards in the area. These are a tough pest to get under control due to their protective waxy coating.

OFM counts in some peach blocks were above threshold for the first time in several weeks. OFM counts remained well below threshold.

Imported cabbage worm eggs in the red circles and a recently hatched caterpillar circled in yellow.

Vegetable Crops

            Imported cabbage worm butterflies are laying a lot of eggs on cole crops. It is important to scout the crops for the eggs as well as the larvae, in order to have a better grasp on when the larvae are hatching and causing damage. This will also help ensure efficient and timely insecticide applications.

Aphids are continuing to be present in many of the vegetable crops that our IPM program scouts,

Thrips feeding in on onion leaves in the center of the plant.

however, we are finding a lot of beneficial insects that are feeding on the aphids and helping to either maintain or eliminate populations. Japanese beetles also are present now in many of the crops in our area.

This week was also the first week that we really noticed an increase in thrips in onion plants. As the leaves get larger and offer more shelter for the thrips, the populations are able to multiply rapidly.

Some sweet corn in the area is tasseling, silking and in some cases, nearing harvest. We have noted some European Corn Borer feeding in tassels. If 10% of silking plants are damaged by ECB, a treatment is warranted. In some fields, this threshold was met, and growers started on a spray program for their tasseling and silking corn.

Small Fruit and Orchards

Aphids in the apple trees continued to be the main pest this week. We found more clusters of wooly apple aphids, which are now working their way out onto the new shoots and green growth. Our trap counts for OFM remain well below threshold.

OFM traps in peach blocks were also well below threshold, however, we did see an increase in the trap counts of Greater and Lesser Peach Tree Borer.

Strawberry season is winding down. Our SWD traps in strawberry patches yielded 0 SWD. Harvest is starting in some area blueberry and bramble patches. Grape clusters are developing nicely and starting to put on some size.

Vegetable Crops

            This growing season, so far, has been all about the bugs. We have not had a huge amount of disease pressure

Squash bug eggs on summer squash.

on the vegetable crops in our area. We have, however, continued to find more insects impacting local crops.

Newly spotted insect pests this week included Japanese Beetles, thrips, and squash bugs. The Japanese Beetles were found in silking sweet corn, the thrips are being found in onions and the squash bugs are being found laying eggs in summer squash plantings.

Japanese Beetle found in a sweet corn stand.

In green beans we are still seeing a light population of potato leaf hoppers and a few bean leaf beetles feeding here and there. Cucurbits still have some cucumber beetles feeding, as well as some aphids. Aphids are not picky about which crops they are in, as we continue to find them in a variety of crops, including peppers and tomatoes. Both eggplant and potatoes are dealing with flea beetle and Colorado potato beetle. The Colorado potato beetle larva are becoming very prolific in some areas and causing significant defoliation. Cole crops, while also dealing with pressure from flea beetle, are now seeing an increase in activity from the imported cabbage worm caterpillar.

Small Fruit and Orchards

Aphids and mites are being found in fruit trees, primarily apple trees. This week, we began to find European red mites, green apple aphids and wooly apple aphids. Trap counts for CM in apples and OFM in peaches were all below threshold, with many traps reporting zeros.

The biggest update in our pest outlook in small fruit was not an insect, instead it involved birds. There was bird damage being found in strawberries, as well as in blueberry areas where the berries are starting to color. Some growers are using netting to exclude the birds from blueberry plantings. This is a lot of work but saves a lot of berries from being damaged.

Vegetable Crops

Cucumber beetle feeding on the foliage of a summer squash plant.

Insects continue to be the main headline in the vegetable crops in our area. Of greatest concern is the cucumber beetle. The populations continue to increase in number and the efficacy of seed treatments or in-furrow applied insecticide starts to decline 4-6 weeks after the seed germinates or after the insecticide is applied. This means that more of the beetles are feeding without being affected by the insecticide. Be sure to scout cucurbit crops frequently and carefully to get accurate counts of the beetles. The thresholds for cucumber beetles are as follows: Cotyledon stage – .5 beetles per plant, 2-4 leaf stage – 1 beetle per plant, greater than 4 leaves – 3 beetles per plant. Limiting the amount of feeding that cucumber beetles do will also limit the amount of bacterial wilt occurring in these plantings. Do be cognizant of the plants that are in bloom and limit your spraying to a time when it will be least impactful on the pollinators.

Colorado potato beetle larva feeding on a potato plant. Tommy Becker photo.

Other insects that were spotted this week include Colorado Potato Beetle larvae and imported cabbage worms. Both of these pests can cause significant damage in their respective crops when left unchecked. Flea beetles also continue to feed on plantings of cole crops, preferring young transplants versus older, more established plantings, although both should be inspected for beetles.

Sweet corn plantings are growing quickly and some plantings that were done into plastic mulch and covered this spring already have a few tassels poking out. Overall, there has been no major concerns in the sweet corn plantings so far, however, do your best to keep up on weed control. Weeds such as bindweed, thistle, and ragweed can not only compete for resources, but can also make harvest difficult and may serve as refuge locations for insect pests to retreat to.

Small Fruit and Orchards

We are beginning to enter a critical period for managing diseases in grapes. This period, which extends from immediate pre-bloom through four to five weeks post bloom, is a critical time to control fruit infections by the pathogens which cause black rot, powdery mildew, and downy mildew. According to the 2021-2022 Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide, the fruit of the most commonly planted varieties becomes resistant to infection by these diseases by four to five weeks after bloom.

In strawberry plantings we are seeing a lot of green fruit and in some locations, harvest is beginning to ramp up. Overall, there have been very few concerns in the

Blueberries starting to enter the “fruit coloring” stage.

strawberries to this point, with just a few slugs here and there and a spotting of powdery mildew on a few plants. Powdery mildew is managed by spraying either pre-bloom or during the early bloom through bloom stage.

Other small fruit like blueberries and brambles look to have a heavy fruit set this year. Blueberries are beginning to get some color to them, and the blackberry and raspberries are either in bloom or in fruit development.

In apple and peach orchards, the fruit are noticeably starting to increase in size. We are finding some aphids in apple trees, feeding on the leaves and new shoots. In peaches, we did find a few instances of powdery mildew affecting the fruit. Trap counts for OFM and CM were under threshold in all of our traps this week. The counts are down after last week with several orchards above threshold for CM and OFM counts.

Vegetable Crops

             As we move into warmer temperatures, it would be best to remove row covers from field planted crops in the interest of pollination and reducing heat stress. In crops that do not need pollinated such as cole crops, the row cover can serve as an insect barrier and prevent early infestation from the Imported Cabbageworm. Crops such as summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes

Flea beetles feeding on a recently transplanted brassica plant.

all need to be uncovered sooner than later to avoid poor pollination and subsequently, poor fruit set.

Hot weather can also be problematic when transplanting into black plastic. The black plastic can become very hot and planting a young, tender transplant into the plastic on a hot, sunny day can cause a significant amount of stress, burns on the leaves and stems and in some cases, death of the transplant. Try to plant in the evenings, as temperatures cool down or on cloudy, cooler days.

Colorado Potato Beetle adults on a potato plant.

In the last week we have seen an explosion of flea beetle in cole crops, and the Colorado potato beetles have begun to make their way into potato plantings. Frequent scouting and monitoring of these insect pests is extremely important. Large populations on young plants can stunt their growth and reduce yields. Conditions have been ideal for rapid population increases, hence the need for frequent scouting. An interesting insect problem we observed was a planting of cole crops where the roots of some plants were being destroyed by ants. In most cases, as you turn on your irrigation lines under plastic, it will drive the ants elsewhere.

Generally speaking, disease pressure has been very low in vegetable crops to this point. We have observed some early blight in a tomato high tunnel, as well as blossom end rot in high tunnel tomatoes.

Small Fruit and Orchards

            Apples and peaches are both reaching fruit development. There was significant growth and change in the size of the fruit over the past week. Out of all of

Strawberry blooms with black centers, damaged by freezing temperatures, alongside healthy blooms.

the orchard traps that we have out, we caught 1 OFM and 1 CM. We began to find aphids in apple orchards. The feeding was evident by curling leaves and shoots.

Blueberries are in petal fall and are setting fruit. Raspberries are getting ready to bloom and overall seem to be coming along just fine.

Grape bud that had been damaged due to freezing temperatures now showing secondary growth. Tommy Becker photo.

Strawberry varieties that were early to bloom, and left uncovered, likely suffered heavy bloom loss due to the freezing temperatures that we experienced. Some early blooming varieties had very few, if any, healthy looking blooms. Many plants have put on new blooms, which are very easy to distinguish from the frosted blooms. Early varieties of plasticulutre strawberries that were covered and protected from the cold are setting fruit and beginning to ripen and may even be in harvest. We are not finding any thrips at this time. Unfortunately, we are finding a lot of slugs in strawberry plants and on the berries.

Currently, grapes are now past the bud burst stage, as most are at the 4-8” shoot stage.  We are beginning to see where grape buds that had been damaged due to freezing temperatures are putting out secondary buds and shoot growth, which is very promising

Vegetable Pests

Aphids feeding on pumpkin leaves. F. Becker photo.

Cucurbit growers need to check their crops for infestations of aphids. Large populations of aphids can be found feeding on the underside of leaves. While the feeding on the foliage is not of major concern at this point in the growing season, the exudate from the aphids is. Aphids secrete a sticky substance known as honeydew and when large amounts of the honeydew are being formed, it can drip down onto the pumpkins and result in black sooty mold growing on the fruit.

Continue to keep watch over late season cole crops as there are still a lot of imported cabbageworm adult butterflies in and around crops such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Additionally, other fall insect pests such as the cabbage looper and aphids can become problematic. Aphids can have rampant infestations during cooler and dry weather.  Therefore, routine scouting, especially at this time of year, is important to effective pest detection and management.

Imported cabbageworm larva feeding on cole crop leaves. F. Becker photo.

Fruit and Vegetable Diseases

Residue management of fruit and vegetable crops is an important component of integrated disease management. Typically, at the end of the season, plants are commonly being affected by a range of diseases. As management of these diseases dwindles towards the end of the season, there is an increased level of inoculum that may be able to over winter. Many of the pathogens affecting the plants now are able to over winter and result in disease challenges again next year. It is important to know what diseases you have in your fields. This knowledge can help you make crop management decisions such as how long to rotate out of a certain crop. Additionally, the residue that is left at the end of the season should either be composted or tilled into the soil as soon as possible. Composting or incorporating the crop residue allows for the plant to be broken down by soil microorganisms and prevents the spread of the pathogen to other plants that may be alternative hosts that could overwinter the pathogen. Doing this in association with crop rotation will help give time for the pathogens to die off. Typical crop rotations allow for 3-

A field that has been cleared of plant debris, run through with a disc and then planted with cover crops. F. Becker photo.

4 years between planting a crop in the same family.

Fruit Pests

Stink bugs are still active and can be found along wood-lines and field edges. Although, numbers do seem to be dropping as the summer comes to an end. I am still finding the occasional fruit that has been damaged by a stink bug. The damage is typically occurring in trees along the edges of orchard blocks, especially near wooded areas.

Vegetable Pests

Large masses of cucumber beetles on pumpkin plants late in the season. F. Becker photo.

Cucumber beetles continue to have high populations in pumpkin fields. The spotted cucumber beetle, which is also the southern corn rootworm adult, are migrating in masses out of corn fields as corn silks dry down and finding their way into pumpkin fields. So long as the beetles are not chewing on the skin of the pumpkin, they are not anything to be concerned about, however, if they start damaging the skin of the fall vine crops, an insecticide application may be warranted.

Scouting your latest plantings of cole crops is recommended to make sure that cabbageworms do not get out of hand. It can be easy to let your guard down as the season winds down, but if you want to have a marketable crop, you need to keep an eye out for the imported cabbageworms doing damage.

Vegetable Diseases

Peppers, at this point in the season should be winding down, however, disease pressure can force a premature end

Anthracnose lesions on a bell pepper. F. Becker photo.

to the season quite rapidly. One disease that can cause a rapid decline in peppers is anthracnose. At this point in the season, it is not worth the investment in any fungicide applications. For future planning, practice a three-year crop rotation with crops that are not in the Solanaceae family and consider doing seed disinfestation before planting. This disease can be managed with fungicides; however, it is important to address the issue of the origin of the diseases, rather than trying to fix the issue by applying a rescue fungicide every year.

At this point in the season, it is of your best interest to consider the cost of any fungicide application in respect to how much more you expect to get out of a crop. With pumpkins, for example, as the plants are beginning to die off at this point in the season, it is not likely that any fungicide application will be effective or result in any increase of yield or crop value. For a crop like cole crops that are just a few weeks in the ground, then you may have opportunity to apply fungicides, should the need arise. As always, follow the label and pay close attention to the pre-harvest interval when applying a fungicide.

Fruit Pests

Stink bugs are still active and can be found along wood-lines and field edges. I am still finding the occasional fruit that has been damaged by a stink bug. The damage is typically occurring in trees along the edges of orchard blocks, especially near wooded areas.

Fruit Diseases

Apples are now ripening and being harvested in orchards around Wayne County. F. Becker photo.

As fruit continues to ripen and be harvested, we continue to move forward through the growing season without many disease issues in our area. If you are doing any final treatments for fruit diseases, pay close attention to the PHI on the product label. The pre-harvest interval determines how long after you applied that product that you may harvest the crop. This is especially important to pay attention to as many varieties of orchard crops as well as grapes are maturing and nearing harvest.