VEGETABLE GROWERS-HEADS UP FOR SPIDER MITES AND THRIPS
Dr. Stormy Sparks, University of Georgia Extension entomologist, warns vegetable growers below about potential thrips and spider mite problems:
Just a quick heads-up on a couple of brewing arthropod problems. As some of you already know, we started having thrips problems in onions about a month ago. This was a little earlier than normal, populations have been higher than normal, and we have had a different species than normal (for onions). All indications are this is carrying over to other vegetables. I have had calls on thrips on a variety of crops. I suspect we will see relatively high populations within the next month (but who knows what will actually happens?).
The other potential problem that is showing its many heads early this year is spider mites. We are already seeing mites in a variety of crops. Dr. Phillip Roberts also brought by a sample of kudzu the other day that had fairly high mite populations. Assuming we stay hot and dry, everyone should be watching for mites closely. While they frequently seem to appear overnight, this is not the case. When they get bad, the damage appears overnight, but the mites have been there a few days to weeks.
Eddie,
Don’t forget that Portal is labeled for mites in vegetables and is a quick knock down material with 4 to 6 week residual. Rate is one to two pints per acre.