The New Agriculture Network's on-line newsletter with seasonal advice for field crop and vegetable growers interested in organic agriculture.

Vol. 2, No. 7 - July 28, 2005

In this issue

	Soybean aphid and soybean rust information for Indiana
	Michigan’s soybean rust sentinel plot scouting report
	Aphid Sucker Part 2: Aphid counts
	Purdue hosts August 24-25 national workshop on storing organic grains and end products
	Organic soybean population study
	MSU Extension/KBS Land and Water Program Organic research projects for 2005
	Reports from organic growers

Soybean aphid and soybean rust information for Indiana
Elizabeth Maynard, Purdue University

The current soybean rust report for Indiana is available at:
http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/SBR/SBR_IN_update.htm

The July 22 issue of the Pest & Crop Newsletter reports that aphid populations are increasing and soybean fields should be scouted. Some fields may have aphid numbers that warrant treatment. The article reviews scouting methods, treatment thresholds, and management with conventional insecticides at: http://128.210.99.160/entomology/ext/targets/p&c/p&c2005/p&c18_2005.pdf

Purdue’s publication E-217-W Soybean Aphid was updated in June 2005 and is available at: www.entm.purdue.edu/Entomology/ext/targets/e-series/EseriesPDF/E-217.pdf

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Jan Byrne, MSU Diagnostic Services
Sandy Perry, SBR Sentinel Plot Coordinator, Michigan State University

Fourteen reports were filed from the 20 Michigan plots during the reporting week. No soybean rust has been found in Michigan or anywhere else in the region, including Ontario, Canada.

Plant height: Ranged from 20 inches to 40 inches, 4 plots = 20 in., 1 plot = 22 in., 2 plots = 24 in., 3 plots = 30 in., and one plot each at 35, 36, 38 and 40 inches.

Degree of canopy closure: Ranged between 90 and 100 percent.

Soybean diseases present: Eleven plots = low brown spot, 2 plots = low bacterial blight, 7 plots = low downy mildew, 2 plots = low Phytophthora stem canker.

Insects present: Four plots = a few soybean aphids per plant, 8 plots = 0-50 per leaf, 2 plots = 0-10 spider mites per leaf, and 2 plots = low levels of Japanese beetles. One plot had been recently sprayed for soybean aphids and 3 plots reported that soybean aphid numbers were increasing.

No soybean samples were submitted to MSU Diagnostic Services to be assayed for soybean rust during the reporting period. MSU Diagnostic Services reports the following pests and problems found on field crop samples submitted in the last 2 weeks:

Christina DiFonzo, Entomology

Editor’s note: we are providing the following article published in MSU’s Field Crop Advisory Team Alert as means to report on various aphid populations and the diseases they can vector. 

Below are the counts from one of the three suction traps running in Michigan. The traps are located at the Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners, on the MSU campus, and at the Saginaw Valley Bean and Beet Research Farm south of Saginaw. The table below gives the counts only for the MSU campus trap, because it has been running for the longest period of time. From the last week of June, catches of winged soybean aphids have been steadily increasing. 

The table also lists some of the other aphid species captured in the trap. I provide notes about the host range (Where are these aphids coming from?) as well as some of the important viruses that are transmitted by each.

How do the counts from Michigan compare with other states in the regional trapping network? In the accompanying map is a summary of the soybean aphid catch from traps in five states, all from the week of July 15. 

Here is a quote from University of Illinois’ Dr. Dave Voegtlin, who is sorting the catches from the regional trapping network, “The remnants of hurricane Dennis provided central Illinois with mild northwest winds for two or three days in a row at the end of that week. A perfect situation for Michigan to export its aphid resource and I believe that is what we saw in the number of alates in the field. If this heat does not slow the aphids down, August is going to be lively.

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Purdue hosts August 24-25 national workshop on storing organic grains and end products

Dirk Maier, Purdue
Tom Phillips, Oklahoma State University
Bh. Subi Subramanyam, Kansas State University

This two-day workshop will focus on current and evolving technologies and best practices that are consistent with the National Organic Program’s requirements for protecting organic grains (including cereals, oilseeds and pulses) and grain-based end products during post-harvest handling, storage, transport, warehousing and distribution. (view pdf file of program)

The workshop will be held August 24-25, 2005 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. It has been organized by the Purdue University Post-Harvest Education & Research Center, the Oklahoma State University Stored Products Research & Education Center, and the Kansas State University Department of Grain Science & Industry in collaboration with the U.S. Quality Grains Research Consortium and the Organic Trade Association.

On-line registration is available at: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/qualitygrains/. A single day registration is $150. The registration for both days is $250. Your registration fee covers lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, all breaks, meeting room rental, AV costs, and all administrative and miscellaneous costs associated with the two day workshop.  Early Registration Special: Save $25 off of your registration fee by submitting your registration information by August 10, 2005. (Single Day: $125 - Both Days: $225)

Please register for the workshop, book your hotel room and make your travel arrangements! Note that the registration information is to be mailed/faxed to the NC-213 Headquarters at Ohio State University. More details about the final workshop program and speakers will be forthcoming soon.

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Organic soybean population study (Kalamazoo County, Michigan)

Dale Mutch, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University

Purpose
Evaluate several different seeding rates for food grade organic soybean production and their influence on yield.

Results
There was no significant difference in soybean yield at 10, 12 or 14 seeds/ft. planting populations. When planting rates were lowered to eight or six seeds/ft., soybean yield was significantly reduced as compared to 10, 12 and 14 seeds per ft. of row.

Notes
Final plant populations were reduced at all seeding rates.  The 14-seeds/ft. treatments final plant population count was reduced over 50 percent after all the tillage operations.

County: Kalamazoo
Cooperator: Kellogg Biological Station
Nearest town: Hickory Corners, Michigan
Soil type: Kalamazoo sandy loam
Tillage: Chisel plow
Previous crop: corn
Variety: Vinton 81
Planting date: 06/08/04
Fertilizer: None
Weed control: Rotary hoe and cultivation
Harvest date: 10/02/04
Exp. Design: RCB, six replications
Sponsored by: CSREES USDA special grants.

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MSU Extension/KBS Land and Water Program Organic research projects for 2005

Dale Mutch, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University

This article provides you with a list of field crop projects that are on-going at Michigan State University's W. K. Kellogg Biological Station. In general, we had a slow start this year, but timely rainfall and warm weather has really helped turn our crops around. I will plan to report the research results from these projects later in the fall after harvest. View photos and details.

Soybeans
1. Plant population study: evaluate the yield response to different seeding rates for soybean (see 2004 results in this issue).

2.  Weed control study: evaluation of weed control using a flamer versus rotary hoeing.

3. Fungicide study: evaluation of BalladJ fungicide on soybean yield.

4.  Insecticide study: evaluation of six organic insecticides on soybean aphid.

5.   No-till study: Evaluation of a roller/crimper for weed control in no-till organic soybeans.

Corn
1.  Weed control study: Evaluation of different weed control strategies for corn, planting dates, flaming and rotary hoeing.

2. Overseeding study: Evaluation of six different cover crops overseeded into corn.

Wheat
1.Frost seeding study: Evaluation of four red clover varieties for biomass production frost seeded into wheat.

2.  Evaluation of no-till drilling red clover into wheat prior to wheat harvest.

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Reports from organic growers

Michigan
Southwest Michigan – Matt Wiley
We’ve had an abundance of rain—one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch daily.  Currently, we are harvesting spelt and putting it in bin to dry.  Rag weeds are coming up fast.  We sprayed soybeans for aphids July 23 and will spray again for aphids on July 30.  We are overcome with horse weeds!

Southeast Michigan – Rob Malcomnson
Frequent rains have ruined hay.  Heat is a blessing to corn and beans (no aphids).  Our vegetables are healthy.  Current farming practices we are involved in include haymaking, vegetable harvest, machine repair and delivering hay to horse people.  In the next two weeks we will be making hay.

Indiana
Northern Indiana – Dan Flotow
The weather has been better the past two weeks only because I’ve received some rain. Prior to two weeks ago I, like everyone else, was very dry (three inches since March 1). Coupled with the hot temperatures, growing conditions have been difficult. Yields on some crops (like potatoes, garlic and green beans to name a few) are going to be lower. But I can see crops perking up with the rains. In fact, I thought I would be harvesting all of my potatoes two weeks ago because the plants did not look so good, but now I can see new green growth. So there is hope yet.

In the past two weeks we have harvest all of our garlic. We’ve started picking summer squash and zucchini (lots of both today), peppers, beans, some cucumbers, some potatoes and eggplant is just starting. Weekly, we’ve been picking kale, chard broccoli (side shoots), cauliflower and cabbage. We lost a couple of crops due to various reasons—celery (critters), onions and leeks (lack of moisture and weeds) and watermelon (weeds).

During the next two weeks, we will continue to harvest summer squash, zucchini, kale, chard and lettuce. The following crops will pick up in harvesting—cucumbers, green beans, eggplant and peppers, and hopefully tomatoes will begin to ripen. We continue to plant crops every week like lettuce, radishes, carrots, baby bok choy and fall plantings of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, turnips, kohlrabi and peas.

Central Indiana – George Mears
One inch of rain fell on Tuesday night and 0.3 to 0.4 inches last week, which was the first rainfall in a long while. The horseweed (also known as giant ragweed) continues to be a problem in soybeans and corn, with the worst problems in dead furrows and end rows. The weeds were mowed earlier in the season and have re-grown. He is considering planting some buckwheat to improve the soil and to reduce the weed problem in future years.

South Central Indiana – Dale Rhoads
We started this period with the second light rain of the year, rain coming from the hurricane. It was cool enough that under our shade cloths chickweed, a cool season germinator, germinated to add to our summer weeding pressure. From that cool spell we went into hot to hotter to dangerous heat, two more severe storms thrown in and now a cold front. At 11:30 a.m. today the temperature is 65 degrees, yesterday it was 95 degrees at this time.

Severe storms beat up leaves on salad greens along with some disease due to hot, wet conditions and cut production by 50 percent. We double plant or plant twice as much in the summer and should come back up to full production in a week or two as long as temperatures stay under the mid-90s.

Curly kale seems to continue to grow well with hot conditions. Lacinado kale is starting to have too small of leaves to market. Both have heavy sawdust mulch under them and close planting in the beds to form a canopy to try to keep the soil temperatures down.

We cut chard back due to excessive disease problems. We are keeping up a copper hydroxide spray to see if that can positively affect or control the leaf spot disease. So far it seems to be making a difference, but it’s too early to tell. I still think there is an insect—leafhopper or something—vector involved also.

We had good fruit set on tomatoes in the greenhouse. However, a lot of the plants were attacked by tomato horn worm. Typically we’ve tried picking them off, some predatory wasps and then BT. We are going to make a BT spray SOP in years to come. We lost approximately one-quarter of first harvest on some varieties due to bites on fruits and a lot of top growth.

Summer squash is about overtaken by squash bug and we are starting to pull it out. In our area the only ones able to grow cucumbers and winter squash organically do so in a greenhouse, except for a few scattered farms that seem to not have squash bug problems. We have been having some trouble with weeds, bed prep and weed killing due to heavy rainfall. We are currently preparing beds for fall brassica plantings. We are planning our fall routine; for us the first of August is the turn of the summer season and we start thinking fall at this time.

There is still little sign of stink bug on Asian pears. I do not know why as they typically have heavy pressure. Once again the fruit season shows that Asian pears are the easiest, most flavorful and most cost effective fruit for us to grow. We’ve started picking our earliest ripening variety of Asian pear a week or two later than last year.

Other than those things, we are just keeping up with our regular routine salad greens plantings, weeding etc., and having some time to do some maintenance tasks in our small window of fewer summer time chores before the full fall season hits again.

Illinois
Northeastern Illinois – Dave Campbell
We finally received a decent rain last Wednesday, July 20, of 1.1 inch.  Prior to this rain, we had received only 0.4 inches of measurable precipitation since May 20.  Because of the timing, this rain may very well have been the difference between no corn crop and at least a partial crop.  After today, July 26, there is no rain in the forecast for the next week or more.  During this past week, we have received light rains and it’s also been very humid, which has kept me from combining oats for a week now.  It has also kept me from planting buckwheat in two fields, which need to be planted as soon as possible.  Something needs to be done in all 12 of my fields at this time.  I hope to plant some buckwheat in a field in the next day or two, and also some buckwheat along with Sudan grass in my experimental field this week.  I cultivated some late-planted soybeans yesterday for the second time.  I also started combining oats early last week.  Rootworm beetles were sprayed in cornfields yesterday, with a follow-up spraying to be done this Thursday.  Thursday’s treatment will consist of 15 oz/acre of CedarGuard.  Yesterday’s treatment consisted of the following products (application rates per acre follow):  1 gal. liquid fish, 1 gal. SP 1, 2 oz. garlic barrier, 2 oz. Mycotrol O, along with a little citric acid to lower the pH to 5.8.  In the next two weeks, I will finish combining oats, bale straw, cultivate soybeans for the third and final time, pull or cut weeds in bean fields after cultivating and bale up rained-on hay.

East Central Illinois – Jon Cherniss
No drought here.  Since hurricane Dennis rolled through two weeks ago we have received over 6 inches of rain.  It looks like we are in the rain zone. With temperatures in the lower to upper 90s everyday in the past two weeks, the weeds have taken off. The rain has been perfect for tomato diseases and the strong winds pushed the peppers over to expose them for a perfect sunburn.   About a month ago our local paper unwittingly, but fortuitously misprinted our farm name.  Apparently we would no longer go by the name of Blue Moon Farm.  Now we would be called Blue Mood Farm.  What a difference a single letter can make.

We are currently doing everything we can to keep up with the weeds.  The frequent rains, however, have made it impossible to kill purslane. We finished planting our first round of fall crops yesterday.  They should have been planted by July 15.  Our last large field planting for fall is scheduled for July 30.  We will replant carrots as soon as possible because of poor germination and emergence (heat and crusts). More cultivation and mowing are planned, and, as always, our weekly plantings of salad greens. We will also be getting fields ready for fall covers of hairy vetch and field peas. 

Question: Same question as last week.  How many more days until a killing frost?

Southern Illinois – Stan Schutte
Dry, dry, dry best describes what is going on. Most things are about done, except for a few root crops. We are watering the tomatoes, so they are hanging on. I haven't checked the regular field crops, have been to busy. It's too dry for the weeds to grow. We have had less than 3 inches of rain this growing season. Waiting for a rain so we can start planting fall crops, it's starting to get late for that. I think my spring planted clover is dead and haven't figured out what I will do for a cover crop.  In the next two weeks, I will sell what is left at the farmer’s markets and hope for a rain.

Iowa
Northwest Iowa - Paul Mugge
As soon as I windrowed oats it began raining. I have had about 3.5 inches spread over six showers. It's been perfect. The hot weather has been oppressive (heat index of 124 the other day), but not too much crop stress, I don't think. Crops look excellent, but so do the weeds. It's been a difficult year.

During the next two weeks, we're walking beans, still trying to combine oats and the flax will be windrowed today. I'm still trying to build a storage hoop for bedding, and I have oat straw to bale.

I hope to finish combining oats this week and get the straw baled. The flax will hopefully be combined next week and the straw baled then as well. I have manure to haul - solid to the compost windrow and liquid on the triticale stubble.

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