Lavender is beginning to bloom at the Simcoe Research Station (Figure 1). This is the earliest bloom ever at Simcoe by about 7-10 days. Part of that is due to our warm spring and part of that is probably due to delayed removal of the row covers and excess warming in March. The earliest blooming cultivars are Super Blue, Big Time Blue, Twickel Purple, Blue Rider and French Fields.
Figure 1. Lavender is beginning to bloom in the cultivar plot at Simcoe including Super Blue (the flower shown). Most cultivars in the plot are not in bloom yet, it is just bud colour showing up in the plot photo.
For those running agritourism operations, early bloom is obviously not a good thing as it may result in a misalignment of festival dates with the peak of bloom. I expect all farms in the province will experience a bloom that is about a week ahead of normal.
A reminder that harvest timing for lavender depends on what the blooms will be used for. For dried bundles and buds, the optimal timing is at about 10% bloom when all of the buds are fully developed, but there are not too many dry and brown petals on the flowers. Optimal fresh bundle harvest would be about a week later when there are more flowers in bloom. For essential oil, peak oil yield and quality will be between 50% bloom and the end of bloom. Harvest for oil can be delayed until after bloom but the longer you wait the more the oil quality will decline and the more chance that buds will start to fall off the stems.
Garden fleahopper populations are exploding in my experimental plot (Figure 2). There are an estimated 200-300 insects per plant and the damage is becoming obvious. Look for light white or yellow mottling of older leaves and stems with tiny brown dots (insect frass) on the surface of damaged tissues (Figure 3). If you shake the plant, many tiny black jumping insects will hop out as well as even smaller green nymphs. If you have a problem now, populations will likely continue to build all season long. Once populations get over 200 per plant, a control may be necessary. Contact me if you need control options (which are limited).
Figure 2. An adult garden fleahopper on a lavender stem.
Figure 3. Damage to leaves caused by garden fleahopper feeding.
Four lined plant bugs should be nearing the adult stage and damage will start to subside as they lay eggs and die off for the year. Note where populations of adults are the highest because these areas may require controls next spring. It is too late to get any control this year.
