The first quarter of the year is always a busy time for extension outreach, and 2021 was no exception. While most communications took place electronically, a year’s worth of experience in virtual conventions, workshops, meetings, and trainings paid off and we were able to provide our IPM outreach to many audiences throughout the state, region, and nation.
Outreach in Mint, Hops, Alfalfa Seed, and Wine Grapes
Washington State IPM Coordinator and Extension Entomologist Doug Walsh kicked off his 2021 extension outreach in January with presentations to the Scientific Affairs Committee of the Mint Industry Research Council. These included:
- Spider Mite Management in Peppermint with an emphasis on resistance management, in collaboration with Justin Clements of the University of Idaho,
- Weed IPM in Mint, a multi-state project in collaboration with Andrew Hulting of Oregon State University and others, and
- Development of a Novel Pheromone Mating Disruption Pest Management Strategy to Proactively Control Mint Root Borer, also with Clements of UI.
Walsh discussed Integrated Management of Mites on Hops at the 66th American Hop Convention, conducted virtually in January. His presentation included the results of in-field and laboratory studies on efficacy of various candidate and alternative miticides (including plant-based extracts and oils), his group’s work on miticide resistance, and plans for expanding collaboration with the USDA-ARS hop breeding program with respect to pest management. He also discussed IPM of secondary pests and augmented releases of predatory mites on hops.
In his annual presentation to the Western Alfalfa Seed Growers Association, Walsh focused on Enhancing and Protecting Populations of Alfalfa Seed Pollinators while maintaining control over the industry’s #1 pest, Lygus bug. The delicate balance of pollinator foraging coinciding with Lygus emergence is a perennial problem in alfalfa grown for seed, and the looming loss of chlorpyrifos as an option further complicates the situation. Walsh has also been in conversation with Washington State Wine regarding development of novel mealybug control approaches and ways to reduce the wine grape industry’s reliance on imidacloprid and chlorpyrifos.
Bilingual, Illustrated Hop IPM Pocket Guide Released
Research and Extension Communication Specialist Sally O’Neal finished the long-awaited Second Edition of the Field Guide for Integrated Pest Management in Hops: Pocket Edition (pdf) this quarter. This popular, pocket-sized resource for use by hop workers in the field was first produced in 2010. As before, the guide is printed on moisture-resistant and tear-resistant synthetic paper stock and wire-bound to stand up to rugged field conditions. The second edition includes new pests and diseases and is illustrated with approximately 265 full-color photos designed to aid in in-field identification of scores of pests (arthropods, diseases, weeds, and others), pest damage, beneficial organisms, and common maladies in hop plants. As before, the guide is bilingual, with text in both English and Spanish. The guide is a joint effort of Washington State University, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and USDA-ARS and is available through the Washington Hop Commission and in electronic format on the Hop Growers of America website.
Advances in Watermelon Grafting for Improved Disease Resistance
Watermelon grafting is an effective biological management tool against biotic and abiotic stressors. To produce the large number of watermelon transplants required by growers in the United States, the watermelon grafting process needs to be more efficient. The WSU vegetable grafting research team led by Vegetable Horticulture Specialist Carol Miles has advanced grafting watermelon using a splice grafting method where both cotyledons are removed from the rootstock, thereby gaining grafting efficiency that should lead to more affordable grafted watermelon transplants. The team recently updated its web-based portal on Grafting Vegetables at the WSU Mount Vernon Vegetable Research and Extension website. These new research findings are also featured in the March 2021 Plant Pathology article “Progress in grafting watermelon to manage Verticillium wilt” by Pinki Devi, Lydia Tymon, Anthony Keinath, and Miles. This review article summarizes information on soil-borne diseases affecting watermelon, with a focus on verticillium wilt (caused by Verticillum dahliae), a primary problem impacting watermelon production in the Columbia Basin.
To further extend information, Miles presented “Optimizing watermelon grafting to enhance grafting efficiency and its impact on fruit maturity and quality” at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. The presentation summarized her team’s recent advances in splice grafting of watermelon to eliminate rootstock regrowth and reduce labor needs along with the general impact of rootstocks for disease management.
Multimodal Management of Troublesome Weeds in Wheat
Small Grains Extension Specialist Drew Lyon continued his IPM outreach this quarter with website content updates and conference presentations. In the popular Timely Topics section of the WSU Wheat & Small Grains website, IPM topics included:
- 2020 Weed Control Report in collaboration with fellow weed scientist Ian Burke, which included investigations of downy brome, mayweed chamomile, Italian ryegrass, smooth scouringrush, common lambsquarters, rush skeletonweed, tumble and tansy mustards, Russian thistle, and birdsrape mustard.
- Volunteer Canola Control, with special emphasis on the planning and effort needed to control Roundup Ready canola.
In the Weeders of the West blog (also available through the Small Grains website), Lyon’s post Two Are Better Than One discusses the benefits and synergies of using multiple herbicide mechanisms of action against the most troublesome weeds.
At the WSU Extension Dryland Wheat Producer Meeting on February 10, Lyon discussed Herbicide Resistance: Implications for Weed Management in Wheat. The live presentation was attended by a capacity audience of 300 participants and was rebroadcast to 70 attendees on February 24.
Lyon also spoke during the virtual Spokane Farm Forum in February. He subsequently converted his presentation on the Biology and Management of Smooth Scouringrush in Wheat to a narrated Powerpoint that is available at the WSU Wheat & Small Grains Video Library web page along with many other video resources.
Hortsense Updates for Home Gardeners
Urban IPM Coordinator Carrie Foss and her team conducted their annual review of the popular Hortsense website this quarter. Hortsense provides home gardeners and others with information on how to manage plant problems using IPM tactics. The site is reviewed each year to ensure that the pesticides listed are registered by the US EPA and the Washington State Department of Agriculture, are legal for home use, and have not been associated with negative human or environmental impacts.
Hortsense was also updated with new weed and disease fact sheets including biology, habitat, IPM options, and images.
- New Hortsense weed fact sheets include: birdfoot trefoil, butterfly bush, creeping Jenny, ground ivy, lesser celandine, and wild carrot (Queen Anne’s lace).
- New Hortsense disease fact sheets include: bean blights (in the Vegetables section) and Seiridium canker on incense cedar (in the Ornamentals: Conifers section).
Foss and her team have also started planning a new training video. It will focus on plant problem diagnosis and will feature WSU Diagnostic Plant Pathologist Jenny Glass. The video will include diagnosis of European chafer in turf and Western redcedar dieback based on the latest research-based IPM information from WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. Foss has produced a series of training videos in recent years for use in the WSU Urban IPM and Pesticide Safety Education program.
Rootstock Use and Nematode Management in Washington Viticulture
Extension Viticulturist Michelle Moyer was an active participant in the 2021 WineVit virtual conference and trade show in March. Moyer spoke at the session Rootstock for the Next Generation of Washington Viticulture, explaining why wine grape growers in Washington State—a region historically able to thrive with “own-rooted” grapevines—may need to consider grafted vines in future plantings. Her presentation, Washington and Rootstocks: The Vineyard Conversation of the 2020s, discussed the role of rootstocks in management of phylloxera and nematodes as well as rootstock choices and impacts on fruit quality and yields. Moyer also moderated a session about the evolution and impacts of various trellising systems, which have pest management as well as other production implications.
Moyer and her team also took part in the WineVit Poster Session. Moyer’s poster, Annual Update: Rootstocks for Vineyard Nematode Management (pdf), created in collaboration with WSU Prosser graduate student Bernadette Gagnier and research technician Maria Mireles along with USDA ARS nematologist Inga Zasada, took first place in the session’s Professional Poster category, while Gagnier’s poster, Alternative Strategies for Nematode Management (pdf), took top honors in the Graduate Student category. Moyer’s poster described trials with a variety of rootstocks that, while hosts to plant-parasitic nematodes, are still a viable management strategy for nematode-associated vine decline. Gagnier’s poster described trials with litchi tomato and several other plants as vineyard pre-plant options to discourage nematodes. Preliminary results indicate a reduction in certain nematode populations following litchi tomato. Congratulations, Michelle and Bernadette!
Watch Out, Scorsese! Entomology Videos Now Available
Tree Fruit IPM Extension Specialist Betsy Beers gave the usual series of presentations to Pacific Northwest growers throughout the quarter, but her team has also been producing entomology videos for the WSU Tree Fruit Entomology website. Whether you are an entomologist, a tree fruit grower, or just someone who enjoys a really scintillating, well-crafted video, you seriously don’t want to miss these. Recent releases include the following:
- Trissolcus japonicus Ovipositing shows this Asian parasitoid wasp placing its eggs within egg masses of two hosts, Halyomorpha halys and Podisus maculiventris. Set to the Blue Danube waltz, this little time-lapse ballet is amazingly beautiful, culminating with the emergence of the japonicus juveniles.
- BMSB Nymph Feeding on a Tomato is a stunning and action-packed sequence, filmed at a variety of speeds and captioned for those of us who don’t know a stylet from a proboscis. It shows a 4th-instar brown marmorated stink bug going to town on a grape tomato. King Kong and Godzilla have nothing on a closeup of a BMSB.
- BMSB Egg Hatch Time Lapse captures the transformation over a six-day period from a freshly laid egg mass through development of the embryos and hatching, coloration, and dispersal of the nymphs. You’ll want a high-resolution, full-screen view for this one, and you just might find yourself cheering for the little invasive pests as they leave the bean leaf.
When she’s not making presentations to growers or directing videos, Beers serves on the executive committee of the codling moth task force assembled by the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission last fall. The task force’s first project, an extensive codling moth survey among Washington and Oregon pear and apple growers, took place this quarter. Results will help identify the most important issues with respect to this key tree fruit pest.