VEGETABLES AND OUR
COOL, WET WEATHER
Just like last year, I’ve talked
with many growers who cannot
remember a season like we have
had so far this year. Last year
was the eaßtest anyone could re
member being done with field
preparation. This year I would
not be surprised if there are some
fields that have not been worked
yet!
I’m not telling you anything
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that you don’t already know re
garding the weather, but how is
this season affecting your vege
table crops? What can/should
you be doing now?
Let me start by saying that an
extended period of warm, dry
weather could cure many of the
problems we are seeing now. Im
proved light would cause in
creased plant growth while
warmer temperatures would both
increase shoot and root growth
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Crops in bare soil might need
an application of fertilizer, par
ticularly nitrogen. Nitrogen is
readily washed out of the soil
with excessive moisture and un
less you used some type of
slow-release fertilizer, a por
tion of your applied nitrogen
could be gone.
Com growers should con
sider using a PSNT to de
termine the amount of nitro
gen in the soil and apply any
additional nitrogen needed
to mature the crop. Pumpkin
growers on bare soil will
need to watch nitrogen as
well, but I would wait until
the weather breaks and the
vines start to grow to evalu
ate your nitrogen situation.
Too much nitrogen will re
sult in all vine and few
pumpkins, so be cautions
about overfertilization of this
crop.
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and nutrient uptake from the
soil. It would also reduce disease
development both above and
below ground.
While we have no control over
the weather, there are some
things to do and/or watch for in
your vegetable fields.
Many vegetable crops are
growing poorly and have a yel
lowish coloration to them which
generally indicates nutrient prob
lems. Excessive rain and cool
conditions will reduce nutrient
uptake in most crops. This is a
result of the vegetables we grow
being warm-temperature plants
and, in general, nutrient uptake
being reduced by low soil temper
atures.
Growers using plasticul
ture should still have most of
their applied fertilizer in the
soil under the plastic. While
nitrogen and other nutrients
can easily be added to the
crop through the drip sys
tem, plants will not use
much water in cool, cloudy,
or rainy weather and thus
added nutrients will not
quickly reach the foliage.
Although I generally do
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not recommend it, this might be
the time for a foliar application
of fertilizer. Nitrogen will again
be the most important nutrient to
apply, but there may be some
benefit to phosphorus and potas
sium as well.
Darryl Wamicke from Michi
gan State University also notes
tfiat for crops such as onions,
radishes, muskmelon, and cu
cumbers, including manganese
helps improve early growth.
Sweet corn may also benefit
from zinc. He suggests foliar fer
tilization rates of S pound N, 1
pound phosphorus and 1 pound
potassium per acre and for plants
that will respond to manganese
or zinc rates of 0.5 pound manga
nese and 0.25 pound zinc per
acre.
When the weather finally
breaks and your crops are active
ly growing, consider using tissue
testing this season as well. 11118
will let you know the exact nutri
ent status of your crop and, if
done during fruit set and early
development, you should have
time to correct any deficiencies.
The cost of a few tests (about $2O
each) can be more than recovered
through improved yields and
crop quality.
The next problem resulting
from our recent cool, wet weather
is a potential increase in disease
problems. One disease that may
be more common than normal
this season is bacterial speck on
tomatoes, which thrives in this
type of weather. Look for lesions
on the leaves that appear as
small, dark brown to black spots
which then develop a yellow halo.
These spots may grow together,
killing large areas or the entire
leaf. Fruit can also be infected by
this disease.
To control this disease, apply
the following on a seven-day
schedule: fixed copper at 1 pound
active ingredient per acre plus
mancozeb (Dithane, Manex 11,
Manzate or Pencozeb) at 1.5
pound 75 WP per acre or OLF, or
use ManKocide 2.6 to 5.3 pound
61 WP per acre.
A disease that I have not heard
about in our
area but
which weath
er conditions
have been
ideal for is
late blight.
Dr. Alan
Mac Nab, veg
etable disease
specialist at
Penn State,
notes that
only three
factors are
necessary for
a potentially
serious late
blight situa-
tion to develop.
These are (1) availability of
late blight spores, sometimes
found on potato plants in cull
piles or on volunteer plants
where potatoes were grown last
year; (2) persistence of wet mild
conditions (and we have had this
for several weeks); and (3) pres
ence of tomato and potato plants
that are not protected by fungi
cides.
He goes on to suggest that all
growers in Pennsylvania who be
lieve late blight inoculum could
be nearby (in your county or in
an adjacent county) apply a pro
tective spray as soon as possible
unless an application was made
within the past seven days. He
also notes that spores from this
disease can travel more than SO
miles by the wind, so if late blight
gets started somewhere in the
state, in can rapidly spread
around.
Finally, what about the in
sects? Generally, conditions that
favor disease development do not
favor insect population growth.
In addition, the cool weather we
are having has delayed the ap
pearance of some of our common
pests but it has extended the sea
son for others.
One insect you need to be con
cerned about now is the Europe
an Com Borer (ECB). Our trap
ping here in the county indicates
we are in the first flight of this
pest and the counts on one site
suggest a four-day spray interval!
Consider applying an insecticide
to any silking com in your fields
as this stage of development of a
com crop is very attractive to
ECB.
Pepper growers with fruit 'fl
inch and larger should take note
of this ECB flight as well. The
absence of a large number of silk
ing com fields (which we would
normally have by now) will make
your pepper fields much more at
tractive to this pest than normal
for this time of year. Based on the
counts I’ve seen, fields should be
sprayed on a seven-day schedule
to prevent excessive losses to
ECB in your early (and potential
ly most valuable) pepper crop.
I suggest taking some time to
carefully examine your vegetable
crops to evaluate their condition.
A timely fertilizer application
may make a big difference this
season on your crops. In addi
tion, controlling any disease or
insect infestations while they are
small is always a sound manage
ment practice. Don’t think that
just because the weather is poor
and your vegetables are growing
slowly there is no need for you to
be out in the fields! Have your
crops ready to go when the
weather finally returns to nor
mal.
WHAT’S AHEAD FOR ( %
CORN, OATS, SOYBEAN AND r w
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