Workshop
Grower Comments on Diseases
Top diseases that affect them. What products used for control? Identify emerging diseases.
Grower #1
For fungal diseases and bacteria root rot, their key to controlling the diseases is water management. They also drench with Subdue. A spring fungicide application is made when foliage emerges. Sometimes dormant oil is used on conifers in the winter. Oils are used as an inexpensive insecticide in the spring. Spray for powdery mildew every 10-14 days. They use an airblast sprayer.
Grower # 2
Development of anything that can be used to refining pest timing such as a calendar. He suggested the states come together for a centralized web site to dump pest and timing information. Other ideas and suggestions include an overview of ways to reduce chemical use, including educating customers, better chemical information per pest/plant, and efficacy tables to help determine which is best for the grower to use and to facilitate effective rotation. Flathead apple tree borer and scale are harder to control with the chemicals available. It was suggested that there is a need to research systemic controls that are affordable, possibly as a pellet, for field production.
Grower #3
Disease control includes scouting, spraying and watching climate conditions. They use Subdue granular for red oak and drench.
Grower #5
Sanitation is heavily relied on to help control disease. They try to do preventive fungicide sprays.
Grower #6
Due to having residential neighbors, production practices take into consideration residential concerns, many of the products used can also be used in organic production, for example, Millstop for powdery mildew. Disease control practices emphasize cultural controls, spacing and cleanliness. In fall they apply a 3-4% hort oil. In late winter, when they are getting ready for spring, a dormant oil and fungicide are applied to everything. This is usually made on a cloudy day in February at 55 degrees, the perfect time to do this.
Grower Comments on Insects
Top insects that affect them. What products used for control? Identify emerging insects.
Grower # 3
Challenging pests include broad mites, aphids, pests in containers and root rot problem. Imidacloprid is used for insect control on shade tree (leafhoppers and borers). Dicsus costs $1 per tree, generic costs $0.28 per tree. Systemics take the management out of pest mgt. They use Precise on river birch.
Grower #4
Before spraying for pests they try to hold off. The only preventive sprays done are for borers. They use Imidacloprid for oak lecanium scale. For scouting, everybody looks. The employees know to tell if they see a pest.
Grower #5
They scout, monitor, and trap insects and also make calendar based-applications for pests known to occur.
Grower #7
Does some preventative spraying for pests that are always present.
Grower #9
Use Tristar, one appl., for maple tip borer. New pests include tree garbler, Lecanium scale. Fire ant baits are used twice a year and they drench everything that leaves the farm.
Grower Comments on Weeds
Top weeds that affect them. What products used for control? Identify emerging weeds.
Grower #1
Weed control is done using 3 applications at 9, 19, and 29 weeks. The use pendimethlin and simazine at very low rates. They use OH2 granular sometimes after potting with a seeder. The use Environmist and solo backpack for cleanup. Problem weeds are nutsedge and Round up-resistant marestail.
Grower #3
For weed control they spray as little as possible using an ATV with 25 gallon tank and clean up in summer with generic glyphosate in an environmist. They use Pendulum and simazine, experiment with Sureguard. In containers they rotate Broadstar and Snapshot and hand weed.
Grower #4
Weed control is done using pre emerge herbicides. Last year they used 9-10 drums of Roundup and now have changed to multiple products (Gallery, Barricade, Sureguard) and this year used less, only 2 drums.
Grower #5
For weed control they try to use lower rates at 4 times per year using Poast in the driveways, Surflan, glyphosate and some Sureguard for things such as dove weed. When they pot up liners someone treats the area with Snapshot pre-emergence herbicide at end of day.
Grower #6
With respect to weeds, they are clean operation because of the high visibility of the nursery. While weeding, they also scout for insects and diseases.
Grower #7
For weeds control they use a Clements mechanical weeder. They do a fall spray application of pre emergence herbicide. This is done late in fall when soil temperature is below 50. They spray Sureguard and have made it till June 15 without having to do a full rate spray of herbicide. The ultimate goal in their weed control program is to get to zero Roundup use.
Grower #8
Weed control begins and it is rotated with Factor and Gallery in injector system, generally on a twice yearly basis. Other than the problem weeds that have been discussed, weeds are controlled by hand weeding. Weeds are a problem in pot and pot operation which is located on a sandy hill side with landscape fabrics. They used to spray with Roundup, but due to trunk damage concerns have now started spraying Sureguard. They spray just the top of plots using a 50 gallon sprayer. They also use Sureguard in rows before taking up plastic.
Grower #9
They try to do as much as they can with as little, for example, using one sprayer by alternate row or middle application. For herbicide application they have 2 rigs to use in field and containers. Only 10% is container surface area so a wand is used to spray pre-emergence herbicide. Three spray technicians do most of the spraying. They use Roundup in the field and Poast on crabgrass in field production. Problem weeds include grass, broadleaf, and nutsedge. It is a problem to use roundup in field. Diquat and preemergence herbicides are used in containers and they do some hand weeding. In field, no pre emergence herbicide has been used in last 3 years due to rain.
Grower Comments on Environmental Issues
Water
The water situation for now is ok (in five states present) but some growers need to build ponds. Specific problems mentioned were those in south Florida where water is limited. In Georgia growers must be able to catch run off if they have a 12” metered well, that size limit will soon be lowered to a 6 inch metered well.
The North Carolina nursery industry is not considered agriculture and nurseries are being held to same standards as developers. Tennessee has abundant resources and the issues of drought have become real but no mandates for water conservation yet.
Growers express concerns over expectations that are not well reasoned and the need to consider net impact on job losses and economic impacts. They encouraged inter-agencies collaboration.
Growers are currently dealing more with local water districts and not on a state level. This is same for Kentucky – i.e., restrictions on watering lawn during drought, but no publicized effort to make changes on statewide effort for the industry.
In South Carolina, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with growers and have permitted ponds for run off due to drought because no city water is available. Sarah White is also working with treatment of water collected from nursery runoff in Georgia to help improve production practices.
Craig Adkins (NC State) is working with the Soil and Water Conservation EQUIP program with installation of riparian buffers and cover crops. They are also working with Carolina Land and Lakes as part of a water quality grant which includes water analysis in river basin areas that were highly populated (where agriculture land was developed).
Regulations
"What do you see in the future as to government regulations for irrigation water runoff." Dr. Toth replied that EPA is currently doing data call in and the next go round of product reviews should focus more on products’ effects on endangered species and ground water. From national level you should see more emphasis and possibly more state and local regulations on run off. In relation to endangered species, if they are in your county/areas you could be limited as to where you can apply a pesticide due to the presences of the endangered species. There should be available on web sites the locations where you could not apply chemicals.
