INDIANAPOLIS (May 15, 2024) —Indiana landowners, for the second year in a row, set a record in the number of conservation practices to maintain soil health, according to the Indiana Conservation Partnership (ICP).

The ICP, which works with Hoosier landowners to provide technical or financial assistance for the implementation of conservation projects, recently announced its 2024 conservation accomplishments. In 2023, landowners supported by the ICP installed more than 50,000 new conservation practices, up 3,000 from 2022. Last year’s 47,000 conservation practices installed was also a record.

“Year after year Hoosier farmers and conservationists are installing additional stewardship practices and working hard to ensure nutrients and irreplaceable topsoil stay on their fields,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Breaking records year after year is no small feat, and I want to thank the partners in this program and also the landowners and farmers for their contributions and wish them well on their continued success of improving soil health.”

The ICP report showed that over the last year landowners helped prevent over 1.6 million tons of sediment, over 3.6 million pounds of nitrogen and over 1.8 million pounds of phosphorus from entering Indiana waterways. 

In the fall of 2022, and emerging in the spring of 2023, Hoosier farmers planted more than 1.6 million acres of living cover, which includes cover crops and winter wheat. Cover crops and no-till practices implemented with ICP's assistance sequestered an estimated 41,000 tons of soil organic carbon, which is the equivalent to the carbon emissions of more than 30,168 cars.

While the term conservation practices can mean many things, in Indiana, some of the most common conservation best management practices are cover crops, nutrient management, residue and tillage management, conservation cover, early successional habitat development/management and grassed waterways. 

“Indiana’s vitality is rooted in the soil. In a time when extreme weather events are inevitable, keeping our soil healthy and productive is of paramount importance,” said Indiana Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Damarys Mortenson. “We are seeing great strides by our Indiana farmers who are working with the ICP to incorporate soil health principles on their land. These producers are increasing their soil’s organic matter, reducing the need for expensive inputs and improving microbial activity — all while harvesting better profits and often better yields.”

Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Don Lamb congratulates Hoosier farmers and landowners on another record year.

“It is exciting news to share that Hoosier farmers and landowners continue to break records each year on installing soil conservation practices,” said Lamb. “A large key to this success is helpful partnerships, having the right tools available and having willing participants. I want to thank the Indiana Conservation Partnership team for their efforts and of course our farmers and landowners who want to keep their soil healthy and thriving for years to come.”  

The ICP is made up of public and non-profit groups, along with landowners, that work together for the betterment of soil health and water quality. ICP organizations include, Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, ISDA, Indiana State Soil Conservation Board, Purdue Extension, USDA-Farm Service Agency and USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Indiana Conservation Partnership is a crucial part of Indiana’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, this illustrates the continued success and challenges of conservation and serves as a tool to help set watershed priorities and reduction targets, manage conservation resources and to further stakeholder involvement across Indiana. 

To find more information on soil and water conservation in Indiana, soil and carbon sequestration, soil conservation trends, Indiana’s work in our three water basins or partnerships between other states in the full report, click here or visit isda.in.gov. 

 The Washington County Goat Association and Washington County Fair Board are hosting an Open Goat Show on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at the Washington County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion.

Weekly Review for May 9, 2024

This informal report by the Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology is a commentary on insects, diseases, and curiosities division staff encounter on a week-to-week basis. Comments and questions about this report are welcome and can be sent to your respective Inspector.

Angela Rust (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I’ve attached a photo this week of adult weevil feeding damage on roses. Irregular notching around the edges of roses and other ornamentals is a sign of adult weevil feeding. Adults will not likely be seen unless you survey the plants at night because that’s when feeding occurs. The larvae of weevils are in the soil and feed on plant roots. Beneficial nematodes are commercially available to control root-feeding larvae or insecticides. They can be applied to target adults when notching damage appears on leaves. Several species of weevils feed on ornamental plants.

Eastern tent caterpillars in this area are maturing and leaving nests in trees to find a protective location to pupate. I’ve already been seeing a lot of Botrytis blight on geraniums. We have had a fair amount of rain this spring and this part of the state tends to be very humid. These are ideal conditions for development of Botrytis fungus. Symptoms can start as spots on leaves, cut stems, or flowers and then spots can enlarge or join together to form a large brown blighted area which causes leaves or flowers to wilt and die. Watering plants from the base instead of overhead and not overcrowding plants can help with prevention. Trimming out early signs of infected leaves and disinfecting shears in between cuts can help prevent spread. There are also fungicides available to help control this problem.

Jared Spokowsky (Nursery Inspetor & Compliance Officer) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I was asked to look at some nucs that were brought into the state this past week. I saw spotty brood, jagged torn open cappings and a foul odor. Those are typical American Foulbrood symptoms and should raise some alarm bells with any beekeeper, but it’s important to look carefully because things are not always what they appear to be at first glance. There was no oil residue on top of cappings and none of the cappings were sunken. Upon further investigation when capped cells were opened there was no decomposing brood and no open cells showed signs of hardened scale in the bottoms. When the contents of the cells were scrambled you could not get any material to rope out. This led me to look for other causes. 

The most prominent other symptom was the presence of quite a bit of chewed down brood. Chewed down brood is indicative of Parasitic Mite Syndrome (PMS). PMS is basically when mite populations have gotten out of control and the bees are no longer strong enough to keep up with maintaining basic hive functions. However, in this case I could not find a single mite after removing dozens of bees from capped cells and the beekeeper had stated that they were treated prior to being moved. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that all the symptoms were the result of chilled brood. The bees had been brought in during a cold snap the previous night and had a 6+ hour drive. Furthermore, a lot of the brood frames had been placed on the outside frame of the nuc.

I was also forwarded another report of dying boxwood. If you’re not familiar with boxwoods, they are a very popular evergreen landscape plant. Over the past few years there has been concern that boxwood blight could wipe them out. Although boxwood blight has been a problem, we have not seen it readily establish here in Indiana even after intercepting it multiple times on incoming nursery stock and finding it in isolated landscapes. 

Now the Box Tree Moth (BTM) is another problem that Indiana boxwood will most likely face soon. Native to China and the Korean Peninsula, it was found in Europe in 2006 and then in Canada in 2018/ It has now been found in four U.S. states (Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts). BTM is a voracious foliar feeder and can completely defoliate an entire boxwood in a single season. For more information on BTM please visit this Cornell Link. Thankfully, the residence I was called out to look at had a combination of cold damage from the winter and a heavy infestation of boxwood psyllid whose feeding damage will cause some cupping to the leaves but poses no significant threat to boxwoods.

Vince Burkle (Assistant Division Director & Nursery Inspector) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Will Drews (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

During a recent inspection, I found a Hosta ‘Twilight’ plant with some unusual foliar characteristics. It had some discoloration to the leaves and a fair bit of bumpy, puckering, mottled sections (see below photos). After sending a sample to Purdue’s Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab, it was confirmed that this plant was infected with hosta virus X (HVX).

HVX is a virus that impacts all hosta cultivars. Symptoms include discoloration around the leaf veins, leaf mottling, puckering, and ringspots. In severe cases, this can lead to wilting and necrosis. Symptom presence varies among different cultivars. If you suspect HVX presence, it is wise to send a sample to a plant diagnostic lab for confirmation.

HVX is unfortunately not treatable and is spread via the sap of infected plants. Infected plants should be removed and incinerated or bagged and trashed. Do not compost infected material as it can spread the virus.

For more information, check out this Purdue University Landscape Report.