[{"id":199,"date":"2026-06-18T14:16:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/?p=199"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:33:38","slug":"coastal-research-station-vegetable-field-day-on-june-10-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/coastal-research-station-vegetable-field-day-on-june-10-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Research and Education Center Vegetable Field Day on June 10, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coastal Research and Education Center at Clemson hosted a vegetable field day last week. Pre- and post-harvest, weed, insects and disease management of watermelon and leafy greens, tomato resistant varieties and weed management of green onions, were all topics discussed during the field day.<\/p>\n

The postharvest lab led by Dr. Karin Albornoz and her graduate students presented ongoing research on predicting watermelon harvest timing using multispectral cameras mounted on drones. This management tool aims to improve fruit quality for consumers and reduce food waste. Dr. Albornoz also discussed postharvest factors that affect the shelf life and nutritional content of collard greens (Figure 1). Specifically, she shared results from an experiment using the variety \u2018Top Bunch 2.0\u2019 to simulate cooling delays of 2, 6, and 8 hours. The 8-hour cooling delay increased leaf yellowing and reduced nutritional content compared with the 2-hour delay. These results indicate that growers should cool and store their produce as soon as possible after harvest to maintain quality for a longer period.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Dr. Albornoz and Zenaba Abdissa (lab\u00a0technician) during the CREC Vegetable field day in Charleston, 2026.<\/p>\n

Anaerobic soil disinfestation driven weed management for watermelons and onions was discussed by Dr. Matthew Cutulle and his graduate students. They showed plots where polymer mulch were flooded with water to become an anaerobic environment sufficient to suppress weed populations. After that, they cultivated watermelon in one experiment and green onion in another experiment with a similar design. The method also helped suppress some diseases, and the untreated plots were heavily infested with competing weeds and anthracnose (Figure 2). Further studies are being carried out to manipulate environment to suppress weed and disease as an alternative to growers who grow organic watermelons and green onions.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2. Untreated plot where the watermelon plant was competing with weeds and was infested with anthracnose.<\/p>\n

Dr. Tom Bilbo underlined the preliminary recommendations to manage two-spot cotton leafhopper in okra and eggplants (Figure 3). The two-spot cotton leafhopper was found in South Carolina last year in July and August, and extension agents are still looking for them this year around the state. This insect feeds primarily on plants that belong to the Malvaceae family, like okra, egg plants and cotton. Feeding symptoms on okra and eggplants include yellowing of the leaves commonly named as \u201chopperburn\u201d and leaf curling. Dr. Bilbo mentioned that the cultivars can be more susceptible than others. Fors instance, \u2018Clemson Spineless\u201d is more susceptible than \u2018Jambalaya\u2019. He also pointed out chemical control options available and the importance of using selective insecticides to conserve natural enemies.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bilbo\u2019s graduate students Sabina Parajuli and Pragya Kiju presented their research on the use of cover crops and weeds to improve pest management in cucurbit crops and brassica. Growing zucchini on rye residues helped suppressing cucumber beetles during the summer, and on sudex residue helped suppressing aphids, whiteflies and two-spot cotton leafhopper during the fall. For brassica, wild radish supported diamond back moth, but also its natural enemies, which ultimately improves biocontrol in the field. More research is needed on these topics to consolidate these alternative management practices.<\/p>\n

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Figure 3. Dr. Tom Bilbo sharing information to growers about pest management in cucurbits and brassica during the CREC Vegetable field day.<\/p>\n

Dr. Anthony Keinath showed a field trial of fungicides for watermelon (Figure 4). During his talk he focused on management of anthracnose, a foliar disease that was introduced into the area shown in the field day. Dr. Keinath also mentioned practices to improve spraying performance, for example, spraying when vines begin to run and no later than when the first male flowers open. Another practice is to spray every seven to ten days during vine run until mid-May. During this time, diseases can attack if a crop goes without fungicide for more than a week. Dr. Keinath recently published a new watermelon fungicide guide in the Land Grant Press by Clemson Extension containing the most updated recommendations of fungicides and programs needed to manage watermelon foliar diseases. The guide is free for download and can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Figure 4. Dr. Anthony Keinath speaking during the CREC Field day about watermelon disease management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Coastal Research and Education Center at Clemson hosted a vegetable field day last week. Pre- and post-harvest, weed, insects and disease management of watermelon and leafy greens, tomato resistant varieties and weed management of green onions, were all topics discussed during the field day. The postharvest lab led by Dr. Karin Albornoz and her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4260,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120565,118608,118253],"tags":[],"coauthors":[121565],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vegetable-entomology","category-vegetable-ipm","category-vegetable-pathology"],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4260"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":185,"date":"2026-06-01T21:18:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/?p=185"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:09:44","slug":"ongoing-two-spot-cotton-leafhopper-research-at-clemson-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/ongoing-two-spot-cotton-leafhopper-research-at-clemson-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Ongoing two-spot cotton leafhopper research at Clemson University"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Clemson University are investigating the distribution of two-spot cotton leafhopper (a.k.a. \u2018cotton jassid\u2019) in cotton fields in South Carolina. This species is native to Southeast Asia and was detected in the U.S. (Florida) during 2024 and in South Carolina during July 2025, reaching high population levels in some cotton fields. Research trials at the Pee Dee and Edisto Research and Education Centers and growers\u2019 fields will be conducted to characterize distributions of the two-spot cotton leafhopper in cotton over the growing season, aiming to optimize IPM strategies for this pest. Although the species has not been reported in the U.S. during 2026, populations of the insect are likely to infest cotton fields later in the season; researchers will then initiate weekly grid sampling in cotton fields to describe within-field patterns of distribution for nymphs and adults (Figure 1). This will help develop a sampling plan for research on thresholds for two-spot cotton leafhopper in the U.S. and ultimately assist cotton growers with control decisions.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Cotton field ready for sampling two-spot cotton leafhopper during the 2026 field season.<\/p>\n

Two-spot cotton leafhopper Extension handout<\/u><\/p>\n

An Extension handout was developed by the Clemson Cotton IPM team to illustrate and summarize current information about the two-spot cotton leafhopper. The handout contains information on the insect\u2019s life cycle and identification, injury to cotton, sampling, and the preliminary threshold based on data collected in 2025. The handout is free and available through THIS LINK<\/a>. More information on two-spot cotton leafhopper can also be found in the MyIPM for Row Crops app<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Clemson University are investigating the distribution of two-spot cotton leafhopper (a.k.a. \u2018cotton jassid\u2019) in cotton fields in South Carolina. This species is native to Southeast Asia and was detected in the U.S. (Florida) during 2024 and in South Carolina during July 2025, reaching high population levels in some cotton fields. Research trials at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4260,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121567,121573],"tags":[121584,121603,121590],"coauthors":[121565],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cotton-ipm","category-invasive-pest","tag-cotton","tag-sampling","tag-two-spot-cotton-leafhopper"],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4260"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":180,"date":"2026-05-04T20:59:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/?p=180"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:02:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:02:34","slug":"cutting-to-the-chase-what-15-years-of-whitefly-trials-actually-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/ipm\/cutting-to-the-chase-what-15-years-of-whitefly-trials-actually-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting to the Chase: What 15 Years of Whitefly Trials Actually Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past six months, Ahmed Lab has assembled the most comprehensive, side\u2011by\u2011side database of whitefly efficacy data available for ornamental crops. This effort\u2014led by Dr. Zee Ahmed (PI Turf and Ornamental Entomology Lab at Clemson) and his Ph.D. student, Powlomee Mondal\u2014consolidated 15 years of published greenhouse trials across multiple crops, biotypes, and chemistries. The goal was to give growers a clear, evidence\u2011based picture of what consistently works, especially against the MED\/Q biotype that challenges poinsettia production every Christmas season. This synthesis appears in the May 2026 Poinsettia Special Issue of GrowerTalks<\/em>. The summary below highlights the key findings for Clemson IPM stakeholders as the new poinsettia season begins.<\/p>\n

Whiteflies remain one of the most persistent and costly pests in greenhouse ornamentals. Across 15 years of trials, a consistent pattern emerges: only a small group of products repeatedly delivers high control, and their value depends on precise placement within the poinsettia crop cycle.<\/p>\n

High\u2011Efficacy Products Are Few (Table\u202f1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table\u202f1 summarizes 15 greenhouse trials across salvia, zinnia, basil, hibiscus and poinsettia. Reported efficacy ranged from \u201345% to 99%. Only four products consistently reached \u226590% efficacy:<\/p>\n