VEGETABLE CROP UPDATE

TOMATO & PEPPER EDITION

Janice LeBoeuf, OMAFRA Vegetable Crop Specialist

·         NEW! Interactive online IPM training
·         Annual tomato and pepper scout/IPM training session
·         Soil Conservation – Pays!

NEW! Interactive online IPM training

OMAFRA has introduced a new training tool for growers and ag personnel working in vegetable and small fruit crops.  Ontario CropIPM - Integrated Pest Management Training is available both online (www.ontario.ca/cropIPM) and on CD.

Ontario CropIPM is an interactive educational tool to improve your knowledge of Integrated Pest Management in Ontario crops. Growers, scouts and consultants can learn about insects, diseases, disorders, and weeds by:

·     searching photo galleries, 
·     using identification keys, 
·     consulting pest scouting calendars, 
·     comparing photos of often-confused pests, 
·     learning about soil diagnostics and herbicide injury,
·     referring to glossaries, 
·     and checking additional resources. 

Ontario CropIPM includes modules for tomatoes and peppers, as well as brassicas, cucurbits, strawberries, and sweet corn.  There is no charge to use the online version, at www.ontario.ca/cropIPM.  A CD version is also available.  The CD can be ordered online at www.serviceontario.ca/publications or by phone at 1-800-668-9938 ($10 + tax, order # AF141).

   Annual tomato and pepper scout/IPM training session

The scout/IPM training session for tomatoes and peppers will be held on Friday, May 1 from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm in the Vet Tech Building, Rm. 232 at Ridgetown Campus.  Lunch is on your own.  Handouts are provided (including a copy of the Ontario cropIPM CD).

The Introduction to IPM session will be held on April 28, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm in conference room 2 at 1 Stone Rd., Guelph.  Lunch is on your own.  Handouts are provided.  Note: you’ll have to pay for parking at this location.

To find the dates and locations of other vegetable, fruit, and specialty crop IPM training sessions, visit www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/conferences/index.html.

To register for any of these sessions, contact the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or the Brighton Resource Centre at 613-475-1630.

   Soil Conservation – Pays! 

Anne Verhallen, Soil Management Specialist – Horticulture, OMAFRA

Heavy snow and high winds this past winter has meant that we have seen a lot of blowing soil, standing water and wash outs along ditches. Erosion hurts productivity – both short term and long term. The wind blown soil from sandy loam fields is usually the finer particles – the very fine sand particles, silt and clays. The clays and organic matter that are lost or at least moved around by wind erosion takes the inherent soil fertility with it. These are the particles that have the ability to hold cations – they hold and release the fertility in the soil. These same soil particles also play a crucial part in soil moisture holding in the sandy soils. Of course once the crop is planted, blowing soil can damage or kill young transplants or emerging seedlings – or they can damage the plant tissues and allow the entry of disease organisms. Some measurements from the early nineties in Kent County suggested that lightly wind damaged tomato transplants resulted in yields losses of as much as 50% under normal growing conditions.

So for the spring of 2009 we are working fields that may have lost some soil and residues and areas within fields that have had water lay repeatedly over the winter – what is your strategy for this spring? Here are some suggestions:

1. Take a look at tillage – reduce the number of passes to keep as much residue as possible. Tillage needs to be timely – we are working with soils that had a tough fall and in many cases a rough winter.
   
2. Cover crops – Let cover crops grow – many cover crops were planted late and did not go into the winter with much top growth. Let the cover crop grow as long as possible to ensure the greatest amount of protection or if dead already let them lie.
   
3. Think spring-planted cover for those really erosion prone soils – spring-planted cereals can be used to create wind strips or they can be inter seeded.
   
4. Target tillage when conditions allow for those wet areas that have held water off and on during the late winter – sheet erosion has deposited very fine soil particles in that area, essentially sealing the soil. A little tillage will help to mix the soil and open it up to drain better during the summer storms.

Soil conservation takes planning and dedication – but it pays off with healthy, productive and resilient soils.

Visit the OMAFRA Vegetable Web Pages: ontario.ca/crops - click Vegetables