Browse Plant Pests and Diseases Stories - Page 15

The University of Georgia’s newest entomologist is eyeing a different approach to studying insects in multiple agricultural crops. Instead of focusing on how to eliminate pests that reduce yield and negatively impact profits, UGA entomologist Jason Schmidt is looking to improve agricultural management systems to preserve helpful insects.

Dozens of calls and samples of roses with a variety of leaf problems are coming into the University of Georgia Extension office in Bartow County. The most common problem diagnosed this year is injury caused by rose sawflies, also known as rose slugs.

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.

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.

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.

Morning glory is a long-standing nuisance weed that wraps around corn plants and chokes farm equipment. One University of Georgia weed scientist is helping corn producers find ways to contain the weed.

A University of Georgia professor is advocating that farmers rotate the pesticides they apply to cotton crops in order to prevent another outbreak of the herbicide-resistant weed, Palmer amaranth.