It's HOT! Much of the country has experienced unprecedented heat this year. The summer of 2012 will definitely go into the books as one of the hottest on record from coast to coast. For growers, hot weather brings with it unique challenges - not the least of which are pests and disease issues.
Brought on by prolonged hot and dry weather, drought and heat stresses in foliage and root zones cause obvious physical changes in plant appearance and growth due to alteration or disruption of many plant processes. These stresses can also compromise a plant's own abilities to withstand or defend itself against pests and diseases.
Some of the most problematic insect pests during hot weather are aphids. Depending on their environment, aphids can have a relatively simple or complex life cycle. Typically in the greenhouse, all individuals are female and reproduction is asexual. The adults give birth to live young, and an individual aphid can go from newborn to reproductive adult in as little as 7 days! Depending on conditions, a single aphid can give birth to 70-100 offspring. You can imagine how quickly an aphid population can explode into an uncontrollable condition. The key to managing aphids is to start your IPM program early. Make sure that you have a solid scouting program in place and inspect your crop regularly. Also, initiate control measures early - it's much easier to control a population that's not growing exponentially.
BioWorks offers several solutions for aphid management. BotaniGard® and Mycotrol® O contain spores of the fungus Beauveria bassiana strain GHA, a pathogen of insects that will attack and kill aphids. Molt-X® is an insect growth regulator that contains the active ingredient azadirachtin. Molt-X interferes with insect's molting process; treated insects stop feeding and cannot molt properly to the next life stage. BotaniGard (or Mycotrol O) and Molt-X together act as a "1-2 punch" for insect control. Molt-X will inhibit the insect's molting process and allow BotaniGard to kill the pest insect before it can molt. SuffOil-X®, a highly refined petroleum oil, can also be used in an aphid management program with BotaniGard and Molt-X. Contact a BioWorks representative to recommend IPM programs for your aphid management program.
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Pythium Root Rot on Geranium
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Rhizoctonia and Pythium crown and root rots are two of the most devastating diseases that affect plants during hot summer weather. The pathogens that cause these diseases (Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium aphanidermatum, as well as other Pythium species) can be especially aggressive in warmer potting media, soils and other substrates into which they have been introduced. Combine this aggressiveness with compromised plant health brought on by heat or drought stress and these pathogens can strike quite hard if introduced to plant roots and left unchallenged.
It is very important to include prevention in your IPM program to minimize or eliminate the threats posed by these pathogens before planting your crops in late summer and early autumn. Most of the time, sound prevention can reduce or even eliminate chemical fungicide applications. Beginning with "clean" plant material and growing media and cleaned and sanitized tools, pots, irrigation systems, growing environments, and equipment are essential first steps toward preventing all soilborne plant diseases, including hot-season Pythium and Rhizoctonia root and crown rots.
Combined with these measures, applying RootShield® PLUS at or before planting provides a solid foundation for preventing both of these hot-season diseases for up to 12 weeks. The two fungi in RootShield PLUS - Trichoderma harzianum strain T-22 and Trichoderma virens strain G-41 - work together against Pythium and Rhizoctonia through different modes of action including competitive exclusion, mycoparasitism, and release of antagonistic metabolites. If you know or suspect incoming plant material to be contaminated by Rhizoctonia and Pythium, it is also possible to use RootShield PLUS with many registered curative fungicides at or shortly after planting (depending on compatibility - see our website).
Contact a BioWorks representative to discuss your particular crops and growing system and to recommend programs with RootShield PLUS that fit your needs.
