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Project Leader(s): John
Mishanec, Area IPM Vegetable Educator, Eastern NY
Abstract: It
is important to educate vegetable growers with new ideas. New ideas
are transmitted best when people are able to see those ideas in practice.
Field research, demonstrations, meetings and data collection took place
in Saratoga, Washington, Rensselaer, Columbia, Albany and Schoharie
Counties. Since there is a large distance from one end of this area
to the other end, field demonstrations were done multiple times, on
different farms in different counties. This approach necessitated small
demonstrations to make specific educational points. The summer field
research and demonstration projects included:
A demonstration of the late blight prediction
model utilizing a weather station in Washington County
The demonstration was held at the Albert
Shelton potato farm. The Late Blight Forecasting (LBF) model is based
on hours of relative humidity (RH) over 90%, average temperature (Av
Tp) and total precipitation (Total prcp). The data collected from the
weather station is formulated into severity values (SV). The first spray
occurs when 18 severity value units have been accumulated. In our demonstration,
the grower applied his first spray when the potato plants had 4 leaves.
Using the Late Blight Forecasting model, after the first spray, subsequent
sprays are applied when 6 or more severity value units have been accumulated.
The grower used a conventional system of spraying weekly on a 7 day
schedule. Using the LBF model, one spray was saved. The brake down of
the weather station coincided with the driest weather of the summer.
The grower continued to spray his fields weekly till mid September.
It did not rain after the middle of August and using the LBF model;
the grower could have felt confident in stretching out his spray interval.
When the weather is wet, the LBF model calls for sprays as needed. When
the weather is dry, the LBF indicates a longer period of time between
sprays can occur. This is common sense. By having a good tool in the
weather station and the LBF model, growers can have more confidence
in making good management decisions thus saving time and money.
A Trichogramma wasp demonstration for
the control of European Corn Borer in Sweet corn
The trichogramma wasp demonstration took
place on two farms, one in Washington County and the other in Albany
County. Our release of trichogramma wasps was timed, with the help of
Pheromone traps, for the first spike of the european corn borer (ECB)
flight. This spring was a cool one and ECB did not start to fly till
the second week of June. Doing it this way we had very good luck finding
ECB egg masses on early corn.
Every where we looked we found at least
60-80% infested egg masses. The grower in Washington County abandoned
his fields for personal reasons but the grower in Albany County was
successfully impressed to only apply one spray to his early corn. ("Early
corn is too valuable to take a chance on.") Harvest evaluations
showed the corn to be totally clean from ECB damage. As a result of
this demonstration, we learned we got the best results from timing the
trichogramma release to the ECB flight and the grower gained confidence
in this technology.
A Spintor low toxicity insecticide demonstration
in sweet corn using reduced rates to reduce costs.
Over the years, a number of low toxicity,
biological insecticides have come onto the market. Trials of these products
have not always shown good results against the three main sweet corn
insects, european corn borer (ECB), fall army worm (FAW) and corn ear
worm (CEW). Spintor, produced by Dow, a fermented product, originally
came on the market in 1999. In 2000, the trial was set up with four
participating commercial sweet corn growers. Those results showed Spintor
was comparable to Warrior in effectiveness against both european corn
borer and corn ear worm. Where Spintor came up short was in a
cost comparison with Warrior. For 2001, we wanted to look at lower rates
of Spintor to see if we could bring the cost per acre down. Work done
by Professor Dick Straub, at the Hudson Valley Lab indicated lower rates
of Spintor would work. We tried two and three ounce rates. Spintor at
these rates were as effective as Warrior. The 3oz. rate of Spintor makes
it more cost comparative with Warrior but it is still more expensive.
Using the 2oz. rate of Spintor against the 3oz. rate of Warrior makes
Spintor more reasonable. All the participating growers said they would
reconsider using Spintor on their farms knowing the cost was more comparative
with Warrior. Lower toxicity comes at a higher price.
A demonstration of insect and disease
resistant varieties of vine crops
Powdery mildew resistant varieties of vine
crops were obtained and planted at the Valatie research farm in Columbia
County and participating farms in Saratoga County. The demonstration
was part of the late-season vine crop twi-light field meetings. Growers
saw the quality of the varieties as compared with traditional varieties.
Growers are just beginning to learn about the resistant varieties available
in the various vine crops. This demonstration showed that beyond the
well-know pumpkin varieties, other crops are now gaining PM resistance.
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