Oceana County is the fourth largest vegetable producing county in Michigan.  It is the largest processing vegetable growing county in the State and leads the State in production of asparagus.  It also grows significant acreage of carrots, squashes, snap beans and pickles. 

Norm Myers maintains a vegetable and Christmas tree growing code-a-phone.  It is updated three times weekly during the growing season and once per month during the fall and winter.  The number is 231-873-2528 and is a toll call out side of Oceana County.

Oceana Asparagus Day is our largest program and is held annually the second Thursday in March.  Other programs are on an as needed basis, but Migrant Labor Update, Veggie School and the Summer Research Tour are held on about an every other year basis.

If you are a home gardener and are interested in information on growing asparagus, please visit refer to the article below under "Asparagus Information" for general asparagus growing information.

Asparagus in the Home Garden

CUTWORMS:

Asparagus has a number of major insect and disease pests.  It is my intention to add pest pictures to this module as the opportunity arrises.  The first pests often encountered by asparagus growers are cutworms.  They come in two varieties:  white and dark-sided.  The white cutworm over-winters as a larva and begins feeding immediately upon emergence of the spears.  White cutworms climb and generally damage only the tips.  Severe winters like the one we experienced in 2004-2005 can cause high mortality in this variety of cutworm.  Dark-sided cutworm on the otherhand over winter as eggs and don't generally become a problem until a couple of weeks into the harvest season.  This cutworm feeds at or below the soil surface and causes the spears to crook or twist.  In cold, slow growth harvest years like 2005 insecticides that were applied before harvest to control white cutworms may have disappated by the time white cutworms arrive.  The picture below is of a dark-sided cutworm.  Black cutworms are less common, but not unknown in asparagus.  They generally show up even later than dark-sided cutworms.

COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE:

The major asparagus insect pest during the fern growing season is common asparagus beetle.  The larvae of this pest, known locally as "slugs" are voracious feeders.  If left unchecked common asparagus beetle larvae will strip asparagus fern leaving it brown and dessicated.  The following picture is of a common asparagus beetle larvae blown up 40 times.

Common Asparagus Beetle Larvae 8/2/05

RUST: 6/1/05

Pete Babbin of Hart Coop brought me my first aecial rust spores of the season.  The aecial rust spore is the first stage we see on asparagus in the spring.  While it does not spread rapidly, it does give birth to the uredial spore which does spread rapidly.  Some growers like to treat this stage on young fields in order to limit the amount of uredial lesions later in the season.  Folicur is the recommended control.  We have a Section 18 Label already in place for that product.  You can obtain a copy from the Vegetable Area of Expertise Website.  The following pictures are of aecial rust lesions magnified 40x and 140x.

Uredial rust lesions are the rapidly spreading type of lesion.  They appear in mid to late June and are a threat to asparagus fern.  The image below is below is blown up by a factor of about 50X.  Uredial lesions are often confused with stemphyllium purple spot lesions, especially before the lesion breaks open to release the rusty colored spores.  The easiest way to tell the difference is between purple spot lesions and uredial rust lesions is that rust lesions are alway raised, while purple spot lesions are always sunken.  The EPA has granted a Section 18 Label for Folicur in Michigan for the 2005 growing season.  This fungicide is highly affective in treating this disease since it has some back action against new lesions.  Please use the link in the Vegetable Production section to visit the Vegetable Area of Expertise Team website and obtain a copy of the Section 18 Folicur Label.  Federal law requires that you have a copy of this label in hand when you treat.  Chlorothalonil and several EBDC fungicides are also labeled, but only as protectants.

Uredial Rust Lesion:  7/22/05

Once cool nights are common, usually in the late summer or early fall.  Uredial lesions change over to the over-wintering or Tellial stage.  This stage is not infective, but if warm weather comes back for a prolonged period of time these lesions can turn back into the Uredial lesion.  A common mistake that growers often make is that when Uredial lesions turn from red to black they assume they have been burned out with fungicide, while in reality the have just moved over in to the Tellial stage.  The following picture is of new Tellial Lesions.

Tellial Rust Lesion 8/2/05

STEMPHYLLIUM PURPLE SPOT:

This foliar asparagus disease is the more common of the two major diseases attacking asparagus fern in Michigan.  It is less damaging than rust, but also harder to treat effectively.  The fungicide chlorothalonil, has a federal label for treatment of this disease in asparagus.  However, it is a protectant and does very little good if the disease has severely infected a plant.  The EBDC class of fungicides also give some protection from the disease, but MSU trials show that they are half as affective as chlorothalonil.  The disease is favored by high temperatures and periods of prolonged leaf wettness.  Below are two pictures of stemphyllium lesions on fern talks.  Defoliation does not usually occur until lesions appear on the small branches or cladophylls.

Stemphyllium Purple Spot Lesions 7/22/05

COVER CROPS FOR VEGETABLE SYSTEMS

 The use of cover crops in all agricultural systems is growing, especially with the rising cost of fertilizers. More farmers are seeking alternatives to grow healthy plants and build soil quality while recycling nitrogen to reduce loss of this valuable resource. Cover corps contribute in multiple ways to the farming system, over the short and long term. One of the major challenges of using a cover crop is to find a window of time when a cash crop is not growing. A wide variety of cover crops are available that provide a sustainable foundation for organic production of field crops or vegetables and fit into various windows.

The Michigan State University Vegetable Area of Expertise Team invites you to participate in a day-long workshop on Cover Cropping in Vegetable Systems—An essential tool for sustainable and organic farmers. The day will offer farmers and educators an opportunity to learn about cover crop systems that work for this region with practical advice and the latest research. Anyone interested in optimizing production of healthy crops will find this workshop useful. The field workshop will be held on Thursday, June 12 from 9 a.m.—5 p.m. at the Kellogg Biological Station in Gull Lake, Michigan located about 30 minutes west of Battle Creek, Michigan. The workshop will feature Dr. Anne VerHallen, who is a Soil Management Specialist, Horticulture Technology, with Ontario Ministry of Ag and Food. She works with farmers to investigate opportunities afforded by cover crops in vegetable systems and their ability to contribute to soil quality. The other keynote speaker will be Dr. George Abawi, Professor in Plant Pathology & International Agriculture from Cornell University located at New York Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. He will present information on how cover crops impact crop health, including how to use cover crops to control soil borne pathogens such as nematodes and root rots and how to implement this type of system on your farm.

Cost of this workshop is $25 for the day that includes lunch, a copy of the Managing Cover Crops Profitably published by SARE in 2007 and a tour of the research fields at the Kellogg Biological Station that demonstrate cover crop systems including pumpkins intercropped with rye and hairy vetch grown as a source of nitrogen for corn. See the enclosed directions to the Kellogg Biological Station.  Click on Registration Form and Directions to print a registration form.

There are a number of websites that will be useful for Oceana County vegetable growers.  The first of these is the Michigan State University Vegetable Area of Expertise Team (Veg AoE) website.  This team consists of MSU Extension Agents and Specialists working in the vegetable production area.  Useful information that can be found at the site includes new agri-chemical labels, printable copies of Bulletin E-312 "2005 Insect, Disease and Nematode Control for Commercial Vegetables" and Bulletin E-433 "2005 Weed Control Guide for Vegetable Crops" and Cost of Production Studies for a number of crops grown in our area including asparagus and carrots. The Veg AoE Team also provides a service called "Veg Info."  It is a search engine that allows you to access information from all Land Grant Universities and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

The second link is to the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo website.  This show is held annually in early December in Grand Rapid's Grand Center and is a combined effort of the Michigan Vegetable Council and the Michigan State Horticulture Society.  In addition to an extensive exhibit hall, educational programs are provided for all major vegetable and fruit commodities.

The third link is to the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board's website.  Asparagus is our largest vegetable commodity and the Oceana County Extension Office works closely with that group in presenting much of our educational programming, especially Oceana Asparagus Day.

Vegetable Area of Expertise Team Home Page

Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo

Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board

Carrots are very important vegetable crop in Oceana County.  Most carrots grown in our area are grown for processing.  There is one major insect pest, aster leafhoppers.  This insect is a problem not because it feeds on the carrots, feeding damage is at best a minor annoyance.  It is significant because it vectors a micoplasmal disease aster yellows.  This pest is best scouted for with a sweep net.  Threshold numbers vary with the infectivity percentage of the leafhoppers present in the field.  Currently the Michigan Carrot Industry Development Committee is paying to have samples of leafhoppers tested for infectivity.  Current thresholds can be found by calling the Oceana Vegetable/Christmas Tree Code-a-phone.

Three major diseases also affect carrots.  Aster yellows is best controled by keeping aster leafhopper numbers below threshold levels.  Two major foliar blights Cercospora and Alternaria can be found in our carrots on an annual basis.  A predictive model, Tom-Cast, allows growers to minimize infection by these diseases by spraying only when conditions favor the diseases.  There is a link to the Tom-Cast web site on the Oceana page.  Please consult it for the sensor located closest to you.  Progress of the disease is measured in Disease Severity Values (DSV).  Growers should allow from 15 to 20 DSV between sprays.

Cercospora Blight blown up 40X:  8/4/05

Alternaria Blight:  8/17/05