Apple and pear trees are at bloom or approaching bloom across Kentucky. Infection by the fire blight bacterium occurs during bloom, thus, protectant antibiotics should be applied when risk is high. Risk for infection can be assessed using the Fire…
Last Year’s Small Fruit Diseases Equal This Year’s Disease Risk
Disease presence last year can indicate a risk for the same disease this year. Many pathogens overwinter on infected plant material or as pathogen survival structures. Poor sanitation practices can lead to an increased risk of these diseases in the…
Posted in Fruit
Black Knot of Stone Fruit
Black knot is a common, often serious, disease of plums and cherries in Kentucky. Trees in both commercial and residential plantings are susceptible to the disease. Black knot results in knotty growths that, over time, encircle limbs and result in…
Posted in Fruit
Rainy Season Equals Phytophthora Disease in Ornamentals
Spring rains can create growing conditions that are devastating to most landscape plants. Wet soils are favored by a group of pathogens called water molds, or oomycetes, which cause a range of root and stem diseases. Water molds are found in…
Posted in Landscape Trees & Shrubs, Ornamentals
Prevent Cutworm Damage to Cut Losses
Cutworms are cool-weather, early-season pests of many cultivated plants. Often before crops are even planted, the small instar cutworms may be feeding on winter-annual weeds in fields. When winter-annual weeds are burned down, and spring crops are planted, half-grown cutworm…
Posted in General Pests
Diplodia Tip Blight of Pine (PPFS-OR-W-21)
Diplodia tip blight is a serious disease of landscape pines in Kentucky, resulting in needle death and dieback. Austrian (Pinus nigra), Scots (P. sylvestris), and Mugo (P. mugo) pines are most commonly affected. As branch dieback progresses upward in diseased pines, trees…
Posted in Featured Pubs & Videos
2021 Insect Trap Counts
Trap counts for major insect pests are provided by the Kentucky IPM Program. Traps are located at the UK Research and Education Center in western Kentucky and the UK Spindletop Farm in Lexington. Below are trap counts for the current…
Posted in Insect Trap Counts
Begin Scouting Fields for Alfalfa Weevil
The UK Ag Weather Center’s degree day model for alfalfa weevil indicates that many counties in Kentucky have recently exceeded the 190 Degree Day (190 DD) used as a starting point to begin scouting for alfalfa weevil. Most other counties…
Posted in Forages
Last Year’s Tree Fruit Diseases Equal This Year’s Tree Fruit Disease Risk
Last year’s disease presence can help us evaluate this year’s disease risk. Many pathogens overwinter on infected plant material or as pathogen survival structures. Poor sanitation practices and lack of management can lead to overwintering of many pathogens. This, thereby,…
Posted in Fruit
Fire Blight Alert and Risk Map Overview
Apple and pear trees are at bloom or approaching bloom across Kentucky. Infection by the fire blight bacterium occurs during bloom, thus, protectant antibiotics should be applied when risk is high. Risk for infection can be assessed using the Fire…
Posted in Fruit
Don’t Get Burned by Fire Blight, Disease Management Begins Now
Fire blight is an important disease of apple, crabapple, pear, and flowering pear in Kentucky. Symptoms are often not observed until late spring or early summer; however, initial infections occur at bloom. The pathogen survives winter in dead, dying, and…
Posted in Fruit
Leaf Scorch and Winter Drying of Woody Plants
Leaf scorch occurs whenever water needed for growth and health of plant foliage is lost from leaves faster than it can be replaced from soil. Any factor that interferes with uptake or movement of water through plants cause water deficiency…
Posted in Landscape Trees & Shrubs
Juniper Twig Blights (PPFS-OR-W-11)
Twig and branch dieback is extremely common in many juniper plantings in Kentucky. While other factors can be responsible for these general symptoms, Phomopsis twig blight or Kabatina twig blight are often the cause. This newly revised publication discusses hosts,…
Posted in Featured Pubs & Videos
2021 Insect Trap Counts
Trap counts for major insect pests are provided by the Kentucky IPM Program. Traps are located at the UK Research and Education Center in western Kentucky and the UK Spindletop Farm in Lexington. Below are trap counts for the current…
Posted in Insect Trap Counts
Fire Blight Alert and Risk Map Overview
Apple and pear trees are approaching bloom. Infection by the fire blight bacterium occurs during bloom, thus, protectant antibiotics should be applied when risk is high. Risk for infection can be assessed using the Fire Blight Disease Prediction Model. Growers…
Posted in Fruit
