Coastal Region
Zack Snipes reports, “We had a heavy downpour of rain last week, surpassing 2.5 inches in some spots. I am seeing downy mildew in cucumbers and lots of gummy stem blight in winter squash and pumpkins. The worm pressure has lessened in the past few weeks. I am seeing lots and lots of black rot in transplanted brassicas. Inspect your plants before planting them to make sure the disease is not coming from the nursery. Once a brassica is planted in the field, there is not much we can do to slow the spread except hope that environmental conditions (rain, humidity) are not conducive to spread the disease. I am also seeing lots of early weed pressure in fall planted crops on both bare-ground and plastic. We have some very good herbicide options to apply preplant. However, once you plant the crop, we have very few herbicides that can be used over the top of the crop. Right now is the time to get down strawberry herbicides before the season starts. As the old proverb goes: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Black rot on collard transplant (V-shaped lesion on the margin) just waiting for the right environmental conditions to decimate your yields.
Zack Snipes, ©202, Clemson Extension
A healthy stand of sunn hemp shades out most, if not all, summer weeds, reducing the weed seed bank.
Zack Snipes, ©2021, Clemson Extension
Midlands Region
Justin Ballew reports, “We received about an inch of rain (at my house), which we really needed. The temperatures over the last week have been very mild, and it has started to feel like fall. As a result, fall crops are doing well. We’re still planting brassicas and keeping an eye on caterpillars. Muscadines are being harvested now. Growers are reporting good fruit quality but lower yields than last year. This is most likely due to the late cold weather that affected muscadine growers across the state. On pecans, black aphid populations and scab incidence are both high. It appears both of these pests are going to significantly reduce the yield on sensitive varieties if growers didn’t stay on top of sprays.”
Pecan scab is severe this year. This disease can cause the tree to abort infected nuts.
Justin Ballew, ©2021, Clemson Extension
Black aphids are very small, but their damage is easy to see on the leaves.
Photo from Justin Ballew, ©2021, Clemson Extension
