Browse Plant Pests and Diseases Stories - Page 7

Mother Nature’s freezing January temperatures reduced nematode buildup in southern Georgia fields. But warmer temperatures this spring could spark nematode activity, according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait.

Georgians are accustomed to evergreen azaleas, but native azaleas are currently growing in popularity. Unlike evergreen azaleas, native azaleas lose their leaves in the fall, grow tall and airy rather than low and dense, and bloom in the spring and summer.

Pesticides, which include insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and more, can contain organic or conventional ingredients. People use them in homes and workplaces, on farms and in gardens, and in other places where they want to control pests like weeds, insects, fungi, rodents and plant viruses.

Pecan season may be over, but Georgia’s producers should continue to scout for pests, like the Asian ambrosia beetle, that could impact future crops.

Once a top agricultural commodity in Georgia, the Southern pea’s presence in the state is now minimal. Growers are reluctant to plant the crop due to a tiny weevil, the cowpea curculio.

Hundreds of people get sick each year from inappropriate pesticide use, but those who don’t deal with pesticides daily may not think about it very often. Of the 11 states participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) pesticide safety program, workers reported 853 serious injuries from pesticides in 2011, according to the CDC.

University of Georgia entomologist Ashfaq Sial advises Georgia blueberry farmers to manage the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), the crop’s most destructive pest, by incorporating cultural practices into farming.

Aspergillus crown rot disease is on the rise in Georgia peanut fields and University of Georgia researchers are working to pinpoint why. At present, university scientists recommend that farmers encountering this problem in their fields stop saving seed from year to year in an effort to reduce the disease while better control methods are found. The first line of defense has been fungicide application either in furrow or directly to the seed.

Nematode control is one of the costliest hurdles to blueberry production on replanted sites. Through research trials in Appling County, Georgia, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Shane Curry found that adding pine bark mulch when replanting blueberry fields helps to combat the pests.

Summer may have ended, but Georgia’s silverleaf whitefly infestation has not.