Scouting Notes

New book focuses on perennial diseases. “Diseases of Herbaceous Perennials” is a new book that helps identify and solve common disease problems of more than 150 perennials. It is arranged alphabetically by plant and includes more than 700 color images of diseases commonly found on perennials. It provides up-to-date information on those diseases to watch for and is a primer on the different disease categories and how they are managed. The book includes symptom descriptions to help tell major diseases of perennials apart along with providing basic cultural requirements of each plant.
 
Divided into three sections, the first section describes basic strategies for diagnosing and managing diseases of perennials. The second section includes short profiles of 12 major types of diseases that attack perennials. The third and main section is organized alphabetically by the genus of each plant. The common name to Latin name index will help those unfamiliar with Latin plant names. The 296-page book is available from the American Phytophathological Society for $79 plus shipping and handling.
For more: APS Press, (800) 328-7560; www.shopapspress.org.
 

Botrytis blight a concern with cloudy weather. Extended periods of cloudy weather can result in Botrytis blight on closely spaced, tender annuals and herbs. The pathogen’s grayish-brown spores are easily spread on air currents and by splashing water. Less obvious symptoms sometimes appear as tan colored cankers on stems that can cause entire branches of plants to wilt.

University of Connecticut extension horticulture and greenhouse IPM specialist Leanne Pundt said Botrytis is best managed by combining environmental and cultural controls with chemical controls. If active fungal sporulation is occurring, reduce the humidity in the greenhouse by heating and venting in the evening and early in the morning to exhaust moist, humid air and replace it with cooler, drier air.

Promptly remove severely infected plants to reduce disease pressure. Place severely infected plants in a plastic bag before removing them from the greenhouse to reduce spore spread. Keep garbage cans covered so spores are not released into the greenhouse via air currents.
 
Water early in the day, so foliage can dry rapidly. As plants are shipped out, provide more space to remaining crops to reduce humidity levels.
 
Apply preventive labeled fungicides before cutting back plants so the spores are not released onto open wounds as plants are handled.
For more: Leanne Pundt, University of Connecticut, (860) 626-6240; leanne.pundt@uconn.edu; www.negreenhouseupdate.info.

EPA to test pesticides for endocrine disruption. On April 15, EPA issued the first list of pesticides to be screened for possible disruption of the endocrine system. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with and possibly disrupt the hormones produced or secreted by human or animal endocrine systems, which regulate growth, metabolism and reproduction.
 
EPA will issue test orders to the manufacturers of 67 pesticide chemicals this summer to determine whether their products may disrupt the endocrine systems. Testing, conducted through the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program will eventually be expanded to cover all pesticide chemicals.
 
The list was developed on the basis of exposure potential and should not be construed as a list of known or likely endocrine disruptors. The chemicals were selected because there is high potential for human exposure through food and water, residential activity or agricultural pesticide application.
 
For more: EPA, www.epa.gov/scipoly/oscpendo.

Hosta virus X infections on the rise. Michigan growers are being advised by Michigan State University extension horticulture and marketing educator Tom Dudek to be on the look out for hosta virus X, a virus pathogen of hosta. Growers should pay particular attention to plants that are flushing out their leaves.
 
Based on information in “A Pocket Guide for IPM Scouting in Herbaceous Perennials” by Jan Byrne and Raymond Cloyd, cultivars vary in their susceptibility and symptoms vary as well. Mottling or mosaic patterns on the foliage are common. Foliage may be puckered or distorted and severely affected leaves may become necrotic. Blue-flowered cultivars may exhibit color breaking.
 
The virus is sap transmissible and easily spread during propagation. The virus is not spread by insect vectors.
 
Infected plants can’t be treated and should be removed and destroyed. Carefully inspect all incoming plant material, particularly that coming from outside the United States to be sure it is free from symptoms. Material to be used for propagation should be tested prior to propagation.

For more: Tom Dudek, Michigan State University Extension Ottawa County, (616) 994-4580; dudek@msu.edu; www.ipm.msu.edu/greenhouseAlert.htm.

Vegetable guide offers specifics on production, pest control. “New England Vegetable Management Guide” is a comprehensive manual with information on current production and pest management techniques for commercial vegetable crops. The guide covers general cultural practices for vegetables, including soil fertility and nutrients, soil management, cover crops, organic production, raised beds and irrigation.
 
Pest management topics include weed, insect and disease management, integrated pest management, efficacy tables, biological controls and lower-risk pesticides and pesticide safety. Color photographs of all the weeds, insects, diseases and non-pathogenic disorders are included.
 
The crops section provides details on recommended cultural practices, varieties and nutrient recommendations for each crop, along with specific information on management of weeds, insects and diseases for specific crops or crop groups.
 
The guide is a collaborative effort of members of the extension vegetable programs of the universities of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The guide is also available in print (which includes the Northeast Vegetable and Strawberry Pest Identification Guide) may be ordered online or from any of the New England extension publication offices.

For more: University of Massachusetts Extension Bookstore, (413) 545-2717; www.nevegetable.org/index.php/ordering.

New scale species found in Colombia. A new polyphagous scale species, Crypticerya multicicatrices, has been described from Colombia. As a newly identified species, the impact of this scale in Colombia is not yet known. Other Crypticerya species are well-documented as pest species in the Neotropics, affecting Codiaeum sp., Rosa sp., Ficus sp. and other unidentified plants in Brazil; alfalfa, grapevine, and unidentified ornamentals in Chile; and citrus in Ecuador.
 
Some of the host plants of C. multicicatrices include economically important fruit trees such as mango and soursop. C. multicicatrices is morphologically very similar to C. brasiliensis, C. montserratensis and C. zeteki.
 
Crypticerya multicicatrices was misidentified as C. brasiliensis in Colombia in 2001, and there are no other records that C. brasiliensis occurs in Colombia.
 
It is suspected that some records of C. montserratensis and C. zeteki in Colombia are also misidentifications of C. multicicatrices.

For more: North American Plant Protection Organization, www.pestalert.org.