
Whiteboard Series: Biological Seed Treatments on Soybeans
Biological or biostimulant seed treatments are growing in popularity and often advertise promising results for crop growth, function, and yield. The Science for Success team wanted to test several commercially available products across a wide array of field environments to see how things played out in the real world.

Keep Invasives and Pests Out! Vacation Souvenir Vectors and Pathways
Natural products, fruits, vegetables, etc. can transport invasive species or pests back home can cause problems with agriculture and natural areas. Check US and State Laws before traveling to know what you can and cannot bringing back home. Declare all souvenirs and make them available for inspection upon request.

Integrating Chemicals into Pond Management Plans
Chemicals can be used in many aspects of pond management, including aquatic weed control, fish disease control, and water quality improvement. Thus, chemical methods can be included in an integrated management plan that also uses physical and biological methods to achieve greater benefits for pond owners. It is important that ...

Measuring Surface Area of Ponds
Accurate surface area estimates are essential to many aspects of pond management. Most chemical applications like herbicides or disease treatments require surface area or volume for rate calculations. Fish stocking rates are also calculated based on pond surface area. Incorrectly estimating surface area can lead to mistakes with herbicide treatments, ...

Insect Aggregation Pheromones: An Invitation for Vegetable IPM Development
Chrysomelid leaf beetles and pentatomid stink bugs often use male-produced aggregation pheromones (attractive to males and females) to colonize hosts, including crops. Some important pests’ aggregation pheromones are already known and synthesized. Availability of synthetic pheromones offers opportunities to develop behavioral control as an important tactic in vegetable IPM, while ...

Educating Californians on Invasive Species and Public Health Pests in Urban Areas
In California, nearly 95% of the population lives in urban or suburban areas. It is inevitable that they will encounter pests, especially those of public health significance such as cockroaches, rats, bed bugs, and mosquitoes, some of which may also be considered invasive. It is also likely that many will ...

A Shift in Strategy: Using Environmental-Based Models to Improve Fungicide Timing for Apple and Soybean Protection
Fungicide applications are a common integrated pest management (IPM) tool, yet their use often follows a set schedule or crop stage rather than actual need. Overuse can drive fungicide resistance, undermining long-term effectiveness. The occurrence of plant disease requires a susceptible host, a pathogen, and favorable environmental conditions. Thus, fungicides ...

Forecasting and managing onion downy mildew using DOWNCAST
Onion downy mildew, caused by the oomycete Peronospora destructor, is a highly destructive foliar disease of onion. The disease does not occur every year in the Holland Marsh, Ontario, Canada, so disease forecasting can be very useful. Symptoms develop 10 – 14 days after infection and downy mildew specific fungicides ...

KASP assays to identify resistance to fungicides in the plant pathogen Stemphylium vesicarium
Stemphylium leaf blight (SLB) caused by Stemphylium vesicarium is the most common foliar disease of onion in Ontario, Canada. Management of SLB relies on repeated fungicide applications and most fungicides are in the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) mode of action group. The strobilurin fungicide, azoxystrobin was applied regularly until very ...