Browse Weeds, Diseases and Pests Stories - Page 25

Unusually warm weather conditions and high soil temperatures have Georgia farmers itching to plant peanuts, but University of Georgia peanut agronomist Scott Monfort cautions peanut producers to hold off until the end of April or beginning of May.

A University of Georgia entomologist is asking Georgians to help track an insect that loves to stowaway in homes and has the potential to hurt the state’s cotton and blueberry crops. The brown marmorated stink bug, a native of Asia, was first spotted in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1998 and has since been found in 42 states and two Canadian provinces, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To date, it is classified as a nuisance pest in Georgia, but could quickly become an agricultural pest, too.

A University of Georgia entomologist is searching for a way to control tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) by studying thrips – the insect that carries the disease.

University of Georgia researchers have found a treatment that kills up to 70 percent of a disease that attacks blackberry plants.

Onions, one of the biggest vegetable crops in Georgia, risk disease when they are harvested and stored. To solve this issue, University of Georgia researchers have developed new technologies, including a gas sensor and imaging methods, to detect diseases in onions.

Farmers usually rush to get their crops to market to get the best price, but if stored properly, field corn held for eight to nine months brings higher prices than recently harvested corn, according to a University of Georgia expert.

Fusarium wilt reduces watermelon yields in Georgia fields. A University of Georgia Extension agent in one of the state’s most prolific watermelon-producing counties is searching for a way to help save the melons and the farmers’ profits.

A small weevil that lives inside corn kernels is costing Georgia growers millions of dollars each year. A University of Georgia scientist has teamed up with farmers and county Extension agents to put a stop to the maize weevil, the No. 1 insect pest of stored corn.

Southerners love crowder, purple hull and black-eyed peas; so do cowpea curculios, a weevil that feeds on Southern peas. University of Georgia researchers in Tifton are working to eliminate this pest, which causes substantial yield losses to Southern peas grown in south Georgia.

An herbicide designed to kill weeds in turfgrass can also kill neighboring trees and shrubs.