Vegetable Crop Update – Jun 8, 2025

In This Issue: Temperature, precipitation, and air quality impacts on vegetable production | Disease forecasting updates for potato early blight and late blight | Cucurbit downy mildew updates | Cabbage maggot, seedcorn maggot, and Colorado potato beetle risks and management

Deep frost this winter limits risk of potato volunteers

This winter of 2024-2025 was markedly different than the last in terms of air and soil temperature and risk of potato volunteer survival. As per the University of Wisconsin Climatology Office, the winter saw minimal snowpack and sustained subfreezing conditions through early to mid-February, and frost extended deep into the ground until the mid-February snowstorms added insulation. These conditions further slowed frost progression despite subzero temperatures in some areas.