What is in this article?:
- Arizona Veg IPM Update: spring melons, powdery mildew, crop botanical classification
- Powdery mildew
- Botanical classification of crops
- 'Luigi' - the jungle bug
- It’s the time of the year to start thinking about managing whitefly nymphs on spring melons.
- Spring and summer crops are being planted and grown. Powdery mildew can develop on wheat, melons, and landscape plants.
- More diverse, minor acreage specialty crops are grown in the Desert Southwest region every year so managing some of these crops can be difficult without local experience.
More About:
Botanical classification of crops
Botanical classification of crops
By Barry Tickes, UA Area Agriculture Agent
An increasingly diverse number of minor acreage specialty crops are grown in this region every year. Managing some of these crops can be difficult without local experience.
It is helpful to know what botanical family they belong to because crops in the same family often have similar growth habits, pest problems, and fertility requirements. There are almost no pesticides registered for some of these crops because of the limited acreage. The response to pesticides is often, but not always, similar to that of other crops in the same family.
Knowing the family they are in can often give you an idea of what to expect. Kerb, for instance, is generally safe to crops in the Composite family (lettuce, artichoke, and radicchio) but is harmful to crops in the Brassica family (broccoli, cabbage, and bok choy).
Contact Tickes: (928) 580-9902 or btickes@ag.arizona.edu.
