June 3rd Rescheduled for 2011

The San Diego County Flower & Plant Association is a trade association of commercial cut flower producers, potted plant growers, and supporting firms.  San Diego County is the number one county nationwide in ornamental floriculture crops and in the state of California, ranks first in flower crops and nursery production. 

The San Diego County Flower & Plant Association is here to serve its membership. The Board of Directors decided to reschedule the Horticultural Trade Fair & Workshop portion of HortSmart, previously scheduled for June 3, 2010, to an undisclosed date in 2011.  Many members expressed concern about the scheduling dilemma and apparent conflict with the California Grown Show.  We feel the best interest of our members and the industry as a whole is not to distract from the California Grown Show. 

We will bring this scheduling issue to the attention of our members and determine a future date with anticipation of full membership participation.  Let us meet at The Center for Applied Horticultural Research, in Vista,

June 10, 2010 at 4:30 PM. Please join your peers to discover together the best possible HortSmart date.

We appreciate the invitation and opportunity the California Association of Pest Control Advisors (CAPCA) gave our association to join their Nursery Greenhouse Seminar, which will continue on June 2, 2010.  They have been extremely understanding and flexible with this decision.

The Borg! The Weevil!

Yup. I'm a Star Trek nut, and I've probably used this analogy before. The Borg are a science fiction alien race that incorporates all biology and technology into their own collective, which means if you encounter them... you become a Borg. When the Starship Enterprise and crew were transported across the galaxy and met the Borg for the first time, they knew they were completely outmatched and would be assimilated if they didn't find a way to escape immediately. They did of course, or the show would have been called the Borg and not Star Trek. But, the end of the show was the most important part. There was good news and bad news. The good news... they escaped. However, the crew of the Enterprise was reminded that the Borg now knew of their existence, and the Borg were on their way to Earth in force. A chilling thought, to be sure.

What does that have to do with ornamental plant production? I can find a way to related it some how. Potentially, the Borg equivalent is on the way.

I'm sure you have heard by now that the Quarantines for the Diaprepes Root Weevil have been lifted in Southern California. The state has much more important things to deal with like a budget and the Asian Citrus Psyllid, so efforts and funding need to be diverted to new priorities. There is good news and bad news.

The good news... the quarantines were lifted. The bad news... you are under the same quarantine protocols as you were when the quarantines were in place.  In addition, before the quarantines were lifted, the pesticide treatment applications to eradicate or stop the spread of the bug had ceased, which means that the bug is now proliferating at will in our environment, which means they will eventually make their way to ornamental production facilities, which means that if a bug is found at your facility, the county will have to make sure that your plants are on hold and that you are following the written protocols for quarantine and eradication for Diaprepes.

You should be prepared to follow the protocol, which can be found at the following web site: www.cdfa.ca.gov/pdcp/Documents/Nursery%20Stock%20BMP's%202008.pdf

The adult beetle is prolific and very mobile, but it is also pretty susceptible to pesticides. Unfortunately, the eggs and grubs are not, which puts the movement of container stock with potential hitchhikers at threat. We have a number of studies in progress that we hope will make the treatment protocol for container stock less stringent, but the threat will still loom unless we come up with a way to reduce the local populations. One such solution is the release of natural enemies, and we are in the process of studying the mass rearing and establishment of an egg parasitoid of Diaprepes. We also have some good results with parasitic nematodes against grubs in potted nursery stock.

In addition, we have a study that we hope will confirm that the grubs cannot develop to an adult in container stock of less that three-gallon cans.  If true, it will very significantly reduce the amount of pesticide needed to satisfy treatment protocols in most nurseries.

OK, we won't be assimilated be we still have a long way to go before we are out of the woods with respect to the Diaprepes Root Weevil. The consequences of the lifting of the quarantine and the lack of eradication treatment applications means that the shear numbers of weevils will be noticeable in short order. Unfortunately, it means that the ornamental plant production industry will have to be on their toes for the foreseeable future.