Viburnum Diseases

Many growers in Florida face challenges propagating and growing Viburnum species.  Leaf spots, defoliation, shoot dieback and potential death of plants can occur if the environment, weather conditions, and diseases are in the right alignment to favor fungal outbreaks.  Over the last few years our research team (Dr. Gary Vallad and his pathology lab, Dr. Wael Elwakil, and myself) have been working on the identification of disease pathogens and their fungicidal control with the help of an FNGLA Research Endowment Grant.  So, what have we learned from our work?  Here is a summation of the important lessons we have learned.

We thought that downy mildew was the main culprit causing leaf spots blotches and defoliation.  This might be true when the weather is slightly cool, for instance in early spring.  When weather turns to hot and rainy, there are a whole host of other fungal pathogens we identified that cause very similar symptoms on the leaves and shoots.  These fungi are hard to distinguish from downy mildew and require a different approach to which fungicides should be used to control them.    

Our efficacy studies have had mixed results due to the fact we were initially targeting downy mildew with very specific fungicides.  We learned that the other fungal pathogens were better controlled with non-downy mildew, general foliar spot type fungicides.  

We presented this work at our last Grower and Landscape Field Day.  We have also presented these results to the FNGLA in a research report as well as conveying the findings to our colleagues at various scientific and extension meetings.  

For a closer look at which fungicides we used and the results, here is a link to a video we made to better explain our results.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8omLE9yu6q4

Profit Margin Videos

If you are interested in maintaining costs and pricing plants you might want to check out these two videos from Dr. Charlie Hall from Texas A&M and AmericanHort.  He goes over the incremental increases in costs relative to previous year's category costs and compares them prior to the Great Recession.  This is good information if you are seeking to raise your prices and need to be armed with good information.  You can check out his perspectives at this link: 
https://www.americanhort.org/page/IIR_2019PerspectiveonProfitMargins

Measuring pH and EC in Large Ornamental Containers Video

It can be quite difficult to check fertility and acidity (EC and pH) levels in large, potted woody ornamentals periodically, to monitor what is going on inside the container.  Conditions will change over time; your fertilizer levels will decrease, the pH will change due to irrigation and fertilizer release.

We did a field demonstration to show growers four different ways that you can use to check the fertility levels in a large container.  We demonstrated a soil lysimeter, a pour-thru method, a leaching fraction method, and a two-to-one (water:soil) saturated media extract.

Some methods may be easier than others depending upon your nursery constraints such as labor, materials, and time.  The key to successfully using this kind of data is to use a method that is exactly repeatable every time.  This way the data can be compared over time and across plants.  A grower will also need to determine which method might be more suitable depending upon factors such as how the fertilizer is incorporated in the container (top-dressed versus sub-dressed) or how irrigation is applied.

I have posted a video looking at the methods of checking pH and EC regularly.  You can watch it here.  pH and EC BMP Video.  We are currently doing research to compare and contrast the different methods and when the research work is completed, we will show how these methods compare with each other and how variable they can be when using this data to make management decisions.

Encouraging Beneficial Insects for Pest Control

I am hearing more and more stories of how producers are using beneficial insect to control pest population in production areas.  Here is a very short video of some ideas you might like to incorporate into your operation to enlist beneficials to help.  This video from GrowingProduce.com was made from Dr. Hugh Smith at our very own UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center.  It mainly speaks to vegetable growers but there are some ideas that you can think about and possibly incorporate into nursery, greenhouse, or sod production.  Click on this link for the video. 

 http://www.growingproduce.com/video/pest-control/v-how-to-encourage-beneficial-insects-in-the-landscape/