Market Farming

["Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>]

Hi Phil

 

    We're seeing an epidemic of aphids this year in northern Illinois. Generally, the lady beetle populations grow following the aphids but it seems the beetle populations crashed due to some natural reason. The aphid populations just exploded after that. Soybean growers have sprayed most of their acreage but the aphids have moved into adjacent areas, including vine crops (pumpkins, squash). Those crops have a very serious problem this year with viruses. We sent a pupkin plant sample into Agdia who identified 6 different viruses. Very tough.

 

    As for work on aphids and virus, I've been working with a reflective mulch product. It's a plastic film mulch with a mirror-like surface. It reflects light back up into the canopy. The plant responds favorable and aphids hate it. They like to hang out on the undersides of leaves to avoid light, which can dessicate them. So the mulch makes the plant environment intolerable to aphids. We're hoping to see a decrease in numbers of aphids in plants planted into reflective mulch and a corresponding decrease in virus infection in the crop. This year I transplanted 'OZ' pumpkins into the reflective mulch. It should be a good year to guage how well the mulch works.

 

    Aphids can be very tough insects to deal with, especially when they carry viruses to susceptible crops. Pounce is not very effective on them. There are better insecticides, like Provado or Capture. I like Provado because it is safe for the Lady Beetles so you maintain their work on the aphid population.

 

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: SaladG AT aol.com <SaladG AT aol.com>
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Thursday, August 21, 2003 8:13 AM
Subject: [Market-farming] Aphids

Having a really major problem with aphid this year. Finding them on peppers, eggplant, okra as the main crops, but also in our fields of soybeans.  They seem to be a black fly type, different than I have ever seem before.  The population per leaf is really getting bad.

Directed to Bill Shoemaker, can this be the strain of aphids that is attacking many other field crops this year.  We have been using pounce 3.2E with very little effect on this aphid, and switched to Nufuo the other day with little results.  What research are you doing in Illinois on this pest

Phil From Iowa