A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26,2002
New Ways To Control Pests Examined At VegetJW
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster
Co.) About 175 local vegetable
producers came out to Yoder’s
Restaurant Monday to learn
about such topics as growing no
till pumpkins, identifying green
house insects, growing flowers in
high tunnels, and controlling
pests.
Sponsored by Eastern Lancas
ter County (ELANCO) School
District and Penn State Coopera
tive Extension, the 2002 New
Holland Vegetable Day updated
farmers on a wide range of con
cerns.
Weed control is an area under
going significant changes,
according to Jeff Stoltzfus of
ELANCO’s Young Farmer Pro
gram and seminar coordinator.
The availability of new, more
target-specific herbicides and the
disappearance of some older ones
demand that growers pay close
attention to their program to get
the best weed control.
While many of the new herbi
cides are “friendly to work with,
almost natural products,” they
require more monitoring to in
sure they get the job done, Stoltz
fus said.
Growers are also increasing
their use of biological agents such
as parasitic wasps to control
problem insects, particularly in
greenhouses.
These environmentally safe
controls especially make sense in
the greenhouse because of its
closed environment where work
ers and children are often pres
ent, according to Stoltzfus.
Cathy Thomas of the Pennsyl
vania Department of Agriculture
showed picture slides of a variety
of greenhouse pests and monitor
ing techniques to help growers
better identify and control them.
Being able to recognize insects
and their stage of maturity as
part of an integrated pest man
agement (IPM) program helps
producers “get the most effective
ness” out of their pesticide or bio?
logical control, Thomas said.
Three vegetable growers in at
tendance went to the other side of
the microphone as a panel to tell
about their experiences raising
no-till pumpkins.
Charlie Miller, Gideon Stoltz
fus, and David Zook have been
fine-tuning their strategies over
the last number of years. Persist
ing after some discouraging at
tempts, they reported generally
positive results, while noting
some of challenges that go along
with no-tilling pumpkins.
“The longer we no-till, the bet
ter it gets,” said Miller, who has
been no-tilling pumpkins for
about eight years in Lackawanna
County.
While each grower’s program
differed in details from the oth
ers, each of them followed the
basic strategy of planting pump
kins into a cover crop that had
been killed either by spraying,
rolling, winter temperatures, or a
Dr. Gerry Ghidiu of Rutg
ers Cooperative Extension
presented the latest findings
on aphid control at the New
Holland Vegetable Day. One
recently introduced pesti
cide works by shutting down
the sucking mechanism of
aphids and is harmless to
other beneficial insects, Ghi
diu said.
combination of those methods.
Rye and winter-killed oats
were named as the main cover
crops into which the pumpkins
were sown, using adapted no-till
vacuum planters.
One of challenges of no-tilling
is making sure that the cover
crop is thoroughly dried out be
fore planting. Green plant mater
ial, wetness, and matting will
hinder planting, according to the
panel.
“Get it dead, get it down, get it
dried out,” Miller said.
Another no-till challenge is
that the cover crop causes soil to
heat up more slowly and can
delay planting times.
On the other hand, cover crops
hold moisture and build the soil.
No-tilling decreases compaction.
A field that previously would
have been a “pond” from a heavy
rainfall had no water standing in
it after switching to no-till,
according to Zook, a New Hol
land area grower.
“That explained to me that
with no-till, the ground was open
and let the water in,” Zook said.
The panel also noted that the
residue mulch of the cover crop
helped provide cleaner pumpkins
at harvest time.
Other sessions addressed weed
control in sweet com, insect con
trol in tomatoes, high tunnel
flower production, aphid control,
and the latest herbicide labeling
changes.
For aphids, one recently intro
duced product controls these
common, disease-spreading pests
by shutting down the sucking
mechanism they use to draw
fluid from plants, according to
Dr. Gerry Ghidiu of Rutgers Co
operative Extension.
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The highly specific action of
this “aphicide” makes it general
ly harmless to other, beneficial
insects and relatively safe for hu
mans, Ghidiu noted. One draw
back is that the chemical acts
more slowly than other alterna
tives.
Part of the advantage of such a
target-specific aphicide, however,
is that some traditional pesticides
such as those of the pyrethroid
class “increase aphid popula
tions by killing natural preda
tors.”
“Timing is crucial” Ghidiu
said, encouraging growers to
monitor for aphids one to two
times per week during the grow
ing season, identify aphid types
and apply specific controls, rotate
aphicides, and avoid overuse of
pyrethroids.
Other IPM measures to curb
aphid populations include sepa
rating fields of crops susceptible
to aphids, keeping fields away
from hedgerows, and seeding cu
curbits on reflective mulch after
July 1.
Brad Majek of Rutgers Coop
erative Extension said weed con
trol in sweet com is becoming a
greater challenge because of the
changing availability of herbi
cides and increasing triazine re
sistance of some weeds.
“It’s getting more difficult to
control both grasses and broad
leafs and allow rotation to anoth
Farm Show Scholarship Foundation
Benefit Dinner, Silent Auction Set
Champion Farm Show Beef On Menu
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) The National Civil War
Museum will host a benefit din
ner and silent auction here
Thursday, Jan. 31 to support the
Pa. Farm Show Scholarship
Foundation.
The Scholarship Foundation
offers funds each year to selected
youth who are pursuing a post
secondary education. Scholars
are chosen based on their aca
demic achievement, 4-H or FFA
involvement, school activities,
and a history of involvement at
the Pa. Farm Show.
This year at the Farm Show,
the foundation presented nine
youth with $2,000 scholarships.
The benefit will begin at 6:00
p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and an
available cash bar. The museum
will also be open at that time.
Dinner will be served at 7:00
er vegetable (after harvesting
sweet com.)”
Majek outline strategies for
using currently labeled pre- and
postemergence herbicides in
sweet com, paying particular at
tention to minimizing crop dam
age.
One key to crop safety when
applying certain postemergence
herbicides is to keep the spray
from entering the whorl or con
tacting the top half of the plant,
Majek said.
He encouraged growers to rig
spray booms according to row
spacing in order to reduce crop
damage. For bigger com, one op
tion is to use a “drop nozzle” that
passes along the lower parts of
the com plants while spraying.
Growers in attendance earned
credits toward pesticide certifica
tion for various sessions.
Bill Troxel of the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association
(PVGA) provided an update on
the state’s Vegetable Research
Program and promotional activi
ties.
Funded by Pennsylvania grow
ers and backed by the Pa. De
partment of Agriculture (PDA),
the research program is carried
out by Penn State and other re
search institutions.
The PDA also teams with the
PVGA in promotional initiatives
such as Pennsylvania’s “Simply
Delicious” program, news re-
p.m., followed by a short pro
gram emceed by local television
weatherman Chuck Rhodes.
The chef from Sysco of Central
Pa. will be preparing aged steaks
from the champion and reserve
champion 2002 Farm Show
steers for the main entre.
For those who want to see the
museum, it will remain open
until 11:00 pm. Tickets to the
museum will be honored until
July 31.
Several Harrisburg area com
panies helped coordinate the ben-
Foraging Around, the official publication of the Pennsylvania Forage and
Grassland Council, scheduled February 9 in Lancaster Farming, is scheduled to
include a feature on rotational grazing for poultry in addition to
work by other leading graziers. A preview and schedule of the
upcoming Pennsylvania Forage ana Grazing Conference is also
scheduled, in addition to news and views of the Council. W.?/
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Bill Troxel of the Pennsyl
vania Vegetable Growers As
sociation updated growers
on the vegetable research
program and promotional ac
tivities. One new initiative is
the Vegetable Quick Bread
Contest conducted for the
first time at this year’s Farm
Show.
leases that feature vegetables for
printing in newspapers, and tele
vision commercials scheduled to
air next year.
eflt to bring together both farm
and city people who recognize
the importance of education to
maintain the strength of agricul
ture in Pennsylvania and the im
portance of the Farm Show to the
economy of the area.
Several items have been donat
ed for the auction, including ori
gional art, meals at local estab-
lishments, a quilt signed by Tom
Ridge, and others.
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