REMINDER! GrowON Webinar Thursday July 27th: Comforting Lies and Unpleasant Truths about Pesticide Application

Ever wonder why you spray the label rate of a pesticide, and you just don’t see good control? Does it have to do with your application method? Your crop? Or something to do with the label rate? According to Dr. Jason Deveau, OMAFRA’s Application Technology Specialist, the truth lies somewhere in between…

Join our latest GrowON Webinar on Thursday, July 27th, where Jason discusses the pitfalls behind generating pesticide labels, and how growers of horticultural crops can help improve pesticide efficacy on-farm.

This is a great webinar for growers of greenhouse floriculture, greenhouse vegetable, nursery and cannabis crops.

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Upcoming GrowON Webinar: Comforting Lies and Unpleasant Truths about Pesticide Application Methods

This is a great webinar for growers of greenhouse floriculture, greenhouse vegetable, nursery and cannabis crops.

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Pesticides for Parvispinus: Results of an On-Farm Trial

*Female T. parvispinus (left) on a mandevilla flower; a smaller male (yellow, right) can also be seen.*

Although the invasive pest Thrips parvispinus continues to threaten tropical ornamental crops, the good news is that the sky isn’t falling. Producing crops like mandevilla, schefflera and hoya is still possible, at least in a closed greenhouse setting.

Although developing a reliable biological control program for this pest is probably a few years off, a suite of pesticides is available in the U.S. and Canada to successfully manage T. parvispinus.

This post covers these pesticides, their relative efficacy and demonstrates outcomes when used in an 8 month on-farm trial in mandevilla.

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Cleaning Out Your Greenhouse Today can Save You Pest and Disease Headaches Tomorrow.

Now that Victoria Day weekend has come and gone, many floriculture greenhouses find themselves with a rare period of empty compartments or benches before fall crops go in. Similarly, many vegetable greenhouses extending their growing period are facing their first crop clean out. Now is the perfect time to consider a thorough cleaning of your greenhouse to prevent pest issues going forward into the new crop. But this can seem like a daunting task.

OMAFRA and the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre have produced a how-to video on greenhouse clean-out and disinfection that can help you know where to start.

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REMINDER: “Potential Solutions for Parvispinus” Webinar TOMORROW!

Join us for a GrowON webinar tomorrow (Tuesday May 30th) on potential solutions for Thrips parvisipinus from “boots on the ground” folks. This includes technical reps, industry consultants, and extension specialists.

Read on for more information and how to register.

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Upcoming GrowON Webinar on May 30th! “Potential Solutions for Parvispinus: Lessons from the Field”

Webinars on Thrips parvispinus are coming fast and hard lately, as scientists and extension agents try to get you the very latest information on this serious pest of ornamentals and peppers.

Join us for a GrowON webinar next Tuesday on potential solutions for this pest from “boots on the ground” folks. This includes technical reps, industry consultants, an your friendly neighborhood extension specialist in Ontario.

Read on for more information and how to register.

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Webinars on Thrips parvispinus TOMORROW and May 10th!

Sorry for the short notice folks, but even sometimes I’m out of the loop! There are two upcoming webinars on Thrips parvispinus, the new invasive thrips that is a serious pest of tropical ornamentals and pepper crops.

The first is by the University of Florida Extension folks, and should be a great update on what’s happening at the source. That webinar is TOMORROW (May 4) at 10am-12pm ET, so hopefully you see this in time! Hopefully it will be recorded for those that miss it.

The next webinar is on May 10th, and is being put on jointly by the Horticultural Research Institute, AmericanHort, the Canadian Nursery & Landscape Association, and American Floral Endowment.

For more details on these webinars and how to register, keep reading.

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Upcoming GrowON Webinar on Dynamic LED Lighting plus Other GrowON Webinars you Might have Missed

Please join us for another GrowON lunch and learn event in person (at Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers in Leamington, ON) or online on Friday May 12 from 12:00-1:00. Lunch will be provided compliments of OGVG. You will hear about dynamic LED lighting and it’s effect on the circadian rhythm of crops from University of Guelph researchers.

Keep reading to register for this upcoming webinar, as well as links to webinar recordings on Hop Latent Viroid in cannabis and greenhouse automation.

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Thrips parvispinus (“Pepper Thrips”): The Importance of Inspecting Plants and Dipping Cuttings from Florida

I’ve written about the tropical pest Thrips parvispinus, now being called “pepper thrips”, infesting certain tropical ornamentals in Canada before. But it appears this pest has become widespread in Florida.

As Ontario sources much of its plant material from Florida, it’s a good idea to exercise caution, even on non-tropical plants. The known host range of this pest is evolving, and thrips have the potential to hitch-hike on less-preferred plant hosts and spread to more preferred hosts in your greenhouse.

Read on for information on the situation in Florida and what you can do to help protect your greenhouse from this pest.

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Cannabis Webinar on 4/20: All You Need to Know About Hop Latent Viroid

Dr. Zamir Punja will speak on HLVd in Cannabis crops

Hop Latent Viroid disease (HLVd) is a virus of hops has recently starting causing serious issues in cannabis production.

To help growers learn how to spot this disease and minimize it’s impact on cannabis yields, OMAFRA’s GrowON webinar series is cohosting a talk with Niagara College’s Commercial Cannabis Program.

Keep reading to register for the webinar.

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