Solomon Hutchins

Blog post 6 By. Solomon Hutchins July 8 2024

At the Howard county with Mr. Nathen and I went to a farm to check on the crops, fruit and vegetables, checking for possible fungi, insects or diseases. The first crop we took a look at was the corn crop the farmer used irrigation to help keep everything hydrated especially during hot weather days.

He also did his best to spray only when needed keeping the insect and disease level low the only insect seen was a stink bug unfortunately stink bugs tend to cause “feed by injecting salivary enzymes into plants and sucking up plant juices. In young corn, this creates a characteristic pattern of circular holes with yellow margins that are very apparent as the whorl unrolls.”

This tends to be bad for a farmer's crop but he seemed to keep the number low ensuring he sprayed frequently enough to lower the cause for concern. Other than that the plant was not suffering from too much insect damage proper irrigation kept the plant healthy the corn ears were growing nicely as well.

We then checked the watermelon looking out for common symptoms and diseases we made sure to touch up on some research before heading to the field some diseases we kept an eye out for were. Bacterial fruit blotch “The disease is of minor concern on the foliage, but severely affects fruit and renders them unmarketable. Yield losses up to 50 percent have been reported.

Can be identified by soaked and bleached areas.

1# example of Bacterial fruit Blotch

Downy mildew All cucurbit crops are affected, but in some areas, certain crops are affected more than others. But watermelons are especially susceptible to this disease. This disease can first be seen in the leaves. Symptoms first appear as pale green to yellow blotches on leaves that develop into spots that are circular to irregular in shape and dark brown to black in color.

2# powdery mildew

Finally Anthracnose is a common foliar disease of watermelon commonly located within Oklahoma. It affects all aboveground parts of the plant including leaves, stems, and fruit. Ways to identify the disease is Foliage spots first appear as small brown spots that are circular to angular in shape.

3# Anthracnose on the leaves 4# Anthracnose on the fruit