Historically, our Areawide Pheromone and Sticky Trap monitoring for insects was terminated around the first of April as the produce season ended. Beginning 4 years ago however, we continued our Areawide Trapping Network throughout the summer to collect trapping data from all 15 areawide trap locations year-round.  So why is this additional trapping data useful? For several reasons: 

1) Understanding the activity of some of our key pests when produce is not grown during the summer may give us an indication of what to expect as the fall produce season begins. This may be particularly helpful for predicting moth flights and whitefly flights in August-September coinciding with early transplanting and direct seeded crops.  Another example is keeping track of corn earworm which can unexpectedly show up near the beginning of fall harvests. 
 
2) Trapping for pests during the summer has shown us that 2 of our more important produce pests are not caught in traps during the summer. We presume this is due to the absence of brassica crops and weeds for diamondback moth, and high daytime/nighttime temperatures lethal to aphids. The fact that trap catches resume in the fall supports our conclusion that these pests are absent in the summer, only to reenter the desert via winds and/or transplants in the fall. And finally, 

3) It gives me something to do in the summer other than write reports and papers. 
So, visit the Areawide Summer Trap Network if you’re curious what our key pests are up to.

As part of the SW Ag Summit that is taking place in Yuma this week, we are conducting a breakout session on Thursday, 22 February 2024 titled “Colorado River Water Shortage: Agricultural Perspectives”.  This session will start at 9:30 a.m. in MAC 106 at the Arizona Western College campus.
This session will provide a brief review of the background, the current situation on the Colorado River and very importantly it will include an outlook on the current discussions among the basin states to negotiate a new compromise for the guidelines of use under conditions of water shortage.  These new guidelines will go into place at the end of 2026.  The immediate goal is to draft proposals by March 2024.
This breakout session at the Southwest Ag Summit will provide up to date information and firsthand insight into the process.  The participants are uniquely qualified to offer valuable perspectives on these issues.  This will be a very good session.
The program outline is as follows:


2024 Southwest Ag Summit
Educational Program
Thursday – February 22, 2024
 
COLORADO RIVER WATER UPDATE AND PROJECTIONS
Location: MAC106
 
9:30-10:00a.m. Colorado River Background and Introduction 
Elston Grubaugh, Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District
 
10:00–10:30a.m. Colorado River Situation and Future Projections
Bart Fisher, Palo Verder Irrigation District and State of California Colorado River Water Board member, Fisher Ranch, Blythe CA
 
10:30–11:00a.m. Colorado River Situation and Future Projections
Hank Auza, Yuma County Water User’s Association President and Yuma Ag Water 
Coalition representative, Barkley Co. of Arizona, Yuma AZ
 
11:00–11:30a.m. Question & Answer / Discussion
 
Moderator: Elston Grubaugh, Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District

With melon season on full bloom, you will also start seeing diseases on melons. Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder is more of a problem on fall melons but they can also occur in summer melons. And it is always a good idea to be prepared for the next crop. Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder is a cucurbit disease caused by a plant virus named Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus (CYSDV; genus Crinivirus, family Closteroviridae). This virus was first detected in southern California and Arizona in 2006 and infects cantaloupe and honeydew melon, watermelon, and various types of squash. CYSDV is transmitted exclusively by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Symptoms always start from the oldest leave which is a diagnostic feature of the virus. 

All biotypes of B. tabaci known to exist in North America can transmit the virus efficiently, including biotypes A, B and Q.  Whitefly transmission is responsible for virus spread over short distances (e.g., within and between fields). However, with high winds whiteflies can move long distances and transport the virus. The virus can stay infectious within whiteflies for up to 9 days. As virus infection is systemic (meaning they have to be circulated inside the plant system to show symptoms) it can take 3 to 4 weeks for disease symptoms to develop following infection. This gives a window for infected symptomless plants can be unknowingly transported and can lead to epidemics. The virus is not transmitted mechanically (by touch, mechanical damage, cuts etc) or via seed. However, the virus can be efficiently transmitted even if there is low whitefly pressure in the field. 

The best management approach is to monitor the whitefly population and be proactive with insecticides application. Rotate insecticides with different modes of action Group numbers to minimize development of insecticide resistance. Practice good weed management in and around fields to the extent feasible.
Remove and destroy old crops/volunteers, enforce regional cucurbit -free period to eliminate the virus from the cropping system. 
Sweet Shield and Novira varieties seem to do well in Yuma area.

Keeping up to date with the latest developments in automated weeding machines is challenging. It’s a very fast-moving space with significant private and public investment. At the 2024 Southwest Ag Summit “Ag Tech: Innovations in Weed Control Technologies” breakout session, university experts and cutting-edge innovators will provide updates on laser weeding, high precision smart spot sprayers, robotic/automated weeders and band steam (agenda below).The session will be held TOMMOROW Thursday, February 22^nd from 1:30-3:30 pm at Arizona Western College in Yuma, AZ.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, there will also be a Field Demo where several of these technologies and other state-of-the-art automated weeders will be demonstrated operating in the field. The Field Demo is scheduled for TODAY, Wednesday, February 21^st. Breakfast will be served at 7:00 am and demonstrations begin at 8:00 am. The event will also be held at AWC.
We will also have our 3^rd generation prototype steam soil disinfestation machine on display at the event (Fig. 3). It is a self-propelled machine designed for commercial field scale operations. The device injects steam into the soil prior to planting to raise soil temperatures to levels sufficient to kill soilborne pathogens and weed seed (typically 140 °F > 20 minutes). We have had very good results with our previous prototypes and would like to demonstrate soil steaming to interested growers next season with the new machine. In addition to obtaining grower feedback on the viability of soil steaming, a second objective is to validate our small plot research results at the field scale level. If you are interested in the technique and would like a demo on your farm, please let me know. I would be happy to collaborate with you.
For more information about the Southwest Ag Summit, visit https://yumafreshveg.com/southwest-ag-summit/.

Fig. 1. Agenda for the “Ag Tech: Innovations in Weed Control Technologies”
educational session at the 2024 Southwest Ag Summit. The session will be held
Thursday, February 22nd at Arizona Western College, Yuma, AZ.


Fig. 2. 2024 Southwest Ag Summit Field Demo agenda. The event will
be held at Arizona Western College in Yuma, AZ.


Fig. 3. Self-propelled machine designed for injecting steam into the
soil prior to planting to raise soil temperatures to sufficient levels to
control soilborne pathogens and weed seed. Unit will be on display at
the 2024 Southwest Ag Summit, Yuma, AZ. (Photo credit: Peter de
Groot).

The SW Ag Summit is taking place in Yuma this week. We will have the Weed Control breakout session on Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 1:30 pm in room AS 115 of  the AWC campus. Here’s what are we going to cover:
Do you know what the IR-4 Project is? 
Established in 1963 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and land-grant universities this project helps ensure that specialty crop farmers have legal access to safe and effective crop protection products and contributes to developing data necessary for the registration products for best pest management. Do we have this project in Yuma?
A Weed Scientist and Principal Biologist from IR-4 and NC State University will explain what this process of making more tools available to growers takes.
 
Additionally, we will have a representative from BASF chemical company who will present NEW WEED CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES as well as active ingredients developed by his company.
 
We all know with the loss of DCPA (Dacthal) herbicide our weed management tools were reduced. You asked the Veg IPM Team to look for ALTERNATIVES for Broccoli and Onion. We are doing some Trials at the UA Yuma Ag Center with products Such as Napropamide (Devrinol), which has the Devrinol DF XT dry formulation and the Devrinol 2-XT liquid. 
Which one is more aggressive? How does water incorporation affect it? How good is it on goosefoot, lambsquarter, knotweed?
Other treatments we are looking at on broccoli are Goal Tender, Prefar, Prowl, Treflan, Enversa, Rinskor.
For direct seeded onion we are testing Prefar, Etothron SC, Dual, a combination of PREFAR+PROWL PREEMERGERGENCE at low rates, Outlook+Prowl.
 
We would like to share our observations if you honor us coming to our session. Again, it is TOMORROW Thursday, 22 February 2024 at the Arizona Western College AS 115 room. This session will start at 1:30 pm.

Get your free copy of the Weed Seedling Identification Pocket Guide at the Yuma Agricultural Center.

Area wide Insect Trapping Network   VegIPM Update, Vol. 15, No. 21, Oct 16, 2024

Results of pheromone and sticky trap catches can be viewed here.

Corn earworm: CEW moth counts increased in most traps; about average for early October.

Beet armyworm: Trap counts increased in most areas last week, and about average for early October.

Cabbage looper: Cabbage looper trap counts still most locations, below average for this time of the season.

Diamondback moth: Adult activity increasing, particularly in the Yuma and Dome Valleys.  Above average for this time of season.

Whitefly: Adult movement increasing Tacna, Dome Valley and Yuma Valley; overall about average for early October.

Thrips: Thrips adult movement picking up in all areas, overall activity above average.

Aphids: Winged aphids beginning to show up the north Yuma and Gila Valleys; about average for early October.

Leaf miners: Adult activity light in all areas, about average for this time of season