Worm pressure heavy on Central Coast
Oct 19, 2007 11:08 AM
It’s been chomp, chomp, chomp on lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower along the California coast, according to Jim Dana, PCA with Western Farm Service in Santa Maria.
“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of worm pressure,” he says. “There’s everything from armyworms to loopers to diamond back moth.”
However, that pressure could take a dive shortly if temperatures remain cool. In the meantime, the cool snap has slowed down crop maturity which is a mixed blessing depending on the perspective.
“Last Friday temperatures dropped quite a bit,” Dana says. “It was a lot colder so I expect that that the worm pressure will fall off fairly dramatically if this trend continues. We recorded 34 degrees in Los Alamos a few days ago.”
In terms of disease pressure, downy mildew is still haunting lettuce growers along the coastal areas.
