Aaron Cato

Thanks to our friend Bill Landreth for helping to bring a new crop to the Jackson County Extension Center this year. We have wanted to help commercial horticulture farmers by adding new research to the area. First crop will be strawberries. @AaronJCato

@ThatWeedsDoc @fruitveg_uaex @AginArk I guess we have a source for which growth regulator it could be: uaex.uada.edu/publications/p…

Best guesses for the cause of the damage you see on this blackberry plant?

@ThatWeedsDoc @fruitveg_uaex @AginArk I guess we aren’t going to blame the most likely candidate this time? The weed scientists spraying nearby?

#Acephate is under registration review. This could completely end its use in all row crops. Well thought out comments really do impact EPA decisions. It is critical that we keep this product in cotton and soybean. Link to the comment site below.

Extension Horticulture IPM Specialist Aaron Cato @AaronJCato from the University of Arkansas discussing insect management of strawberries 🍓 this morning at the Alabama Strawberry Production meeting in Jemison, Alabama. #ACES

ALERT!! #SpottedLaternfly Detected in Middle Tennessee. TDA has confirmed the detection of spotted lanternfly (SLF) in Davidson County. Tennessee is the 16th state to detect SLF since it was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014. FULL RELEASE: tn.gov/agriculture/ne…

Episode 17 of the Southern Fruitcast is out and features Dr. Jonathan Oliver from UGA. This episode is all about cane blight and other problematic diseases of blackberry. Listen in on the Apple or Android podcast apps or follow the link below👇 bit.ly/SoFCast #uaexHORT

Broad mite is beginning to infest and damage blackberry and you should be on the lookout! Broad mite often shows up in late July and we've already observed leaf necrosis and abortion as seen in pics below on 8/2. See our blog for more info 👉bit.ly/BMites #uaexHORT

Corn earworm moth trap numbers are up all over the state. Pictured here is our trap near Ft. Smith. Checkout our pest scouting map for more info @ uaex.uada.edu/hort-IPM. If you are growing tomatoes now is the time to scout and maybe apply insecticides! #uaexHORT

Pumpkins coming soon to a demo near you. #uaexHORT

If you aren't already spraying for SWD in AR Blackberries you may consider! We are catching flies in fields in South AR now (see below pics). Checkout our new SWD monitoring Fact Sheet bit.ly/SWDTrap and our pest scouting page uaex.uada.edu/Hort-IPM for more info.

@lizzystar0010 @dustingnorth Probably a southern black racer, which is what folks in eastern Arkansas call a blue racer. Nice find! herpsofarkansas.com/reptiles/snake…

@dustingnorth @AaronJCato

Can someone help me identify that this is a blue racer? Haven't seen one in several years.

Never a dull day at @uarkhort. We’re currently retrofitting a classic boom type sprayer with a 5-nozzle hoop for spraying strawberries. We’re building a how-to video for our YouTube channel, ARFruitveg, and a fact sheet so you can build your own. #uaexHORT

@ArkAgResearch @AginArk Looks better now with the plants in! It’ll be over grown before we know it.

Our research and extension centers are busy planting! The Southwest Research & Extension Center in Hope is putting beds in the tunnel houses for @aaronjcato 's blackberry research this summer. @AginArk #Arkansas #Blackberries #Spring #Planting

Squash Vine Borer emergence is beginning in AR. We expect to see adults at 750-1000 GDD: Ft. Smith-739 Clarksville-558 Hope-842 Little Rock-875 Fayetteville-580 Jonesboro-539 See here for more information on control and management of SVB bit.ly/SquashVineBorer #uaexHORT

Peaches that made it through the freeze in SW AR were found easily by plum curculio. We recommend an insecticide application around petal fall-shucksplit to avoid damage from first gen plum curculio. Emergence traps can be used to help time this app as pictured. #uaexHORT

Grape berry moth traps in AR went out this week. Our goal is to use moth counts along with scouting of wild grapes to determine when moths are coming into fields to time insecticides. Check out our pest scouting page for updates uaex.uada.edu/hort-ipm #uaexHORT

Our model base is considered the lower development threshold, so we would substitute 50F for the low temp if it doesn't reach this threshold. If our temp for Thursday are a high of 62F and a low of 48F as projected, we should expect 6 GDD to accumulate (62+50)/2=56. 56-50= 6 GDD

Squash vine borer uses a base 50F model with a January 1 biofix (when you start counting). The high for Little Rock Monday was 82F and the low was 60F. First find the mean temp (85+72)/2=71. Subtract your model base from the average - 71-50=21. SVB accumulated 21 GDD April 3rd.

With the recent warm weather we are close to squash vine borer emergence. We expect to see adults at 1000 GDD (Base 50): Ft. Smith-450 Clarksville-318 Hope-554 Little Rock-567 Fayetteville-305 Jonesboro-304 Follow our pest scouting page for future updates uaex.uada.edu/hort-ipm