Year-Round IPM Program Pages
This year-round IPM program covers the major pests of cole crops in the Central Valley, Central and Southern Coast, and southern desert of California.
About Planting to Rosette
- Special issues of concern related to environmental quality: pesticide and fertilizer runoff and leaching.
- Mitigate pesticide effects on air and water quality.
What should you be doing during this time?
Monitor for Bagrada bug and its eggs in nurseries. Do not use transplants with damage from pests or diseases.
At planting, select and apply herbicides if needed based on the preplant weed survey.
Direct seed or transplant into uniform beds to the proper depth with a precision planting system.
Check for stand uniformity and wilted plants. Inspect plants for pests and their damage:
- Aphids (cabbage aphid and other aphids)
- Bagrada bug
- Beet armyworm (eggs and newly hatched larvae)
- Bulb mites (only for direct-seeded crops)
- Cabbage looper (eggs and newly hatched larvae)
- Cabbage maggot
- Crickets (if the crop is direct-seeded)
- Cutworms
- Darkling beetles
- Diamondback moth (in coastal areas)
- Flea beetles
- Garden symphylan
- Grasshoppers (if crop is direct-seeded)
- Leafminers
- Leafrollers
- Lygus bugs (in the Central Coast region)
- Seedcorn maggot
- Sowbugs (if the crop is direct-seeded)
- Springtails (for direct-seeded crops in the Salinas Valley)
- Sweetpotato whitefly
- Wireworms
Manage as needed according to the Pest Management Guidelines.
Before cultivation, manage emerged weeds according to the Pest Management Guidelines.
- Survey the field to identify the weeds growing. Continue to keep records.
- Cultivate as close to the seed line as possible. Based on the weeds present, decide if a postemergence herbicide is needed and use a surface band application of salt-based fertilizer to stimulate growth and kill weeds. Grass-selective herbicides can also be used if these weeds are present.
- If herbicides are used, create a custom herbicide weed susceptibility chart for your field.
If you observe severe symptoms of clubroot or Rhizoctonia diseases, note the location for future spot treatments if cole crops will be planted again, or to make management decisions for the next crop.
If you see these sporadic or minor pests, diseases, or disorders, note for next year's management:
- Alternaria leaf spot
- Cabbage looper
- Downy mildew
- Imported cabbageworm
- Vertebrates (birds, mice, or voles)
- Wind damage, or wind whip girdling of stems
Manage the pests listed above as needed according to the Pest Management Guidelines. For more information on abiotic disorders, see Integrated Pest Management for Cole Crops and Lettuce, UC ANR Publication 3307 (available as a PDF only). Keep records for next year's management.
Install drip tape if sprinklers were used to establish the crop.