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Bob Dylan wrote in one of his songs that “you don’t need a weatherman to know which
way the wind blows”. I don’t claim to be a meteorologist, but I think most would
agree with me that this was one of the warmest winters we’ve experienced in a long
while. In fact, I’m not sure when winter ended and spring started; sometime in January
I think. Given the temperatures we’re currently experiencing one might wonder if
summer has arrived early this year. But in fact, spring begins tomorrow and the
produce season is quickly winding down. I made the comment last year that Yuma’s
weather (2012-2013) was certainly unusual. Same this year, but don’t we say this
every year? Same for insect pressure. The warm winter weather certainly had an influence
on insect pressure at the Yuma Agricultural Center. It was not the worst I’ve seen
but certainly heavier pressure than the previous 2 seasons; particularly for aphids,
thrips and Leps. Based on weather data collected from AZMET weather stations throughout
Yuma County, average temperatures were warmer in January and February than in the
past several years (and compared to “normal” temp). This may explain to a large
degree why aphid and thrips populations have been higher this year compared with
what we historically see during this period. Although winter rainfall (Oct-Feb)
was higher in some locations, almost no precipitation was recorded in Jan and Dec,
which is about 0.75” lower than normal. This certainly can have an influence on
insect infestations, especially thrips. Not surprisingly, thrips numbers are presently
building exponentially on our late lettuce trials at YAC, but this is expected given
our warm, dry growing conditions and the migration of adults from recently disked
lettuce fields. Cabbage lopper, corn earworm, and diamondback moth numbers were
high this spring, and are likely a reflection of the warmer nighttime temperatures
experienced in the last 6-8 weeks. Not surprisingly, Bagrada bugs are quite abundant
on our cole crops at YAC; keep an eye out for them on your Brassica seed crops.
Whitefly adults have been found on early melons since early February. Although we
think of CYSDV as a fall problem, high whitefly numbers in April and May could lead
to more virus than expected on spring melons. Finally, seed corn maggots have not
been a problem to date on either melons or cotton, but this recent warm, dry weather
is not considered especially conducive to maggot outbreaks. For a detailed summary
of the winter weather data described above, please view the update on
Winter Weather Conditions for Yuma County, 2013-2014.
Click picture to listen to John’s update To contact John Palumbo go to: jpalumbo@ag.arizona.edu |
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For questions or comments on any of the topics please contact Marco Pena at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
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