VegeNotes - your levy at work

The lettuce aphid - Nasonovia ribis-nigri - is a major pest of salad crops, particularly lettuce. Originating from Northern Europe, it was confirmed in Tasmania mid-March 2004. A dangerous feature... Go to article.

Every process in the journey of delivering vegetables, right from the field through to the consumer, can be thought of as a link in a chain. When the optimum temperature of the vegetables is maintained... Go to article.

Biosecurity is a general description for a series of measures designed to protect individual farming properties, businesses and the nation as a whole, from the entry and spread of exotic pests. This... Go to article.

Fungal, nematode, viral and bacterial diseases can affect carrots at any stage of the crop, from seedlings to cold storage. Root and post-harvest diseases affect marketability of carrots,... Go to article.

Freshcare Limited was formed in 2000, as a not-for-profit company, to manage the Freshcare Program on behalf of the horticultural industry. Freshcare has been developed as a national, industry-owned... Go to article.

IPM stands for ‘Integrated Pest Management’ and is used to control pests without relying on pesticides alone. With an IPM approach, pesticides provide support for other control measures... Go to article.

Fresh produce growers and packers need to implement Quality Assurance (QA) systems as Businesses handling food are required to ensure they only accept uncontaminated produce. Retailers such as Woolworths,... Go to article.

Growers of horticultural crops frequently suffer from a lack of approved crop protection products. The problem is that whilst their crops are valuable, individually they are too small for agrochemical... Go to article.

Plant Protectants are used in the vegetable industry to control pests, diseases and weeds. The majority of these products are applied in the form of droplets produced from different types of nozzles... Go to article.

The most important diseases affecting greenhouse cucumbers across Australia were root rot, stem rot and wilt. In many cases, plants wilted and died soon after transplanting and these symptoms continued... Go to article.

Some species of plant-parasitic nematodes are a significant constraint to carrot production. Root knot nematode (RKN) (Meloidogyne spp.) is the most damaging to many carrot crops in Australia. RKN... Go to article.

Sclerotinia diseases cause major loss in many horticultural crops (e.g. lettuce, beans, carrots, brassicas and peas). Intense cropping and the use of Sclerotinia susceptible crops in rotations have... Go to article.

Basic strategies used to manage weeds are adapted and integrated to suit the different production systems. The overall aim is to develop a system that combines all of the appropriate weed control options.... Go to article.

Slugs are a major economic pest in most horticultural crops. Slugs are primarily pests of vegetable and cereal crops. They feed above and below the soil surface, damaging seeds, shoots and roots.... Go to article.

Insecticide resistance is a problem of modern agriculture. Since the 1950s and the introduction of synthetic organic insecticides, insect resistance to insecticides has required more frequent applications,... Go to article.

Diseases caused by viruses are among the most common cause of loss to capsicum growers across Australia. Symptoms of several virus diseases often appear to be very similar in the field, and more than... Go to article.

Silverleaf Whitefly (SLW) (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) is a major worldwide pest of cotton, vegetables and soybeans. It arrived in Australia in 1994 and is now causing severe problems in Queensland,... Go to article.

Western Flower Thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis, is one of the most damaging pests to confront the Australian vegetable industry. WFT causes damage by feeding on fruit buds (eg. cucumbers)... Go to article.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) helps growers select the best tool to manage pests. There are five steps in this strategy: IDENTIFY key pests and understand their lifecycles,... Go to article.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) helps growers select the best tool to manage pests. Moth Diamondback Moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella, is a major pest of Brassica vegetable growing ... Go to article.

Integrated Pest Management - IPM - strategies aim to reduce the pest population to a minimum by taking into account the various components and how they might be manipulated. IPM uses a range of tools... Go to article.

The Australian Vegetable Industry Development Network operated for ten years between 1998-2008. The network enhancing communication and information flow between growers, researchers and other members... Go to article.

The National Vegetable Levy was introduced in 1996, after considerable nation-wide consultation, at the request of AUSVEG. Having a levy allows for planned Research and Development with practical... Go to article.

Reclamation and reuse of a variety of treated wastewaters on food crops has been practiced for more than 50 years around the world. Any reuse scheme developed today is by no means a ‘world first’.... Go to article.

A 2002 study on the quality of waste wash water used on Australian vegetable farms revealed some treatment would be needed before it could be safely recycled. Some persistent herbicides were found... Go to article.

Good irrigation management is vital to achieve efficient use of water combined with high yields and quality in vegetable crops. Irrigation also has a direct influence on factors such as pack out percentage,... Go to article.

Downloads of recent VegeNotes are now available to registered users from the AusVeg website.  2007 Soil moisture monitoring White blister... Go to article.