After a family vacation to Jamaica in 2023, Dr. Langenhoven at Purdue University recognized the potential for Scotch Bonnet peppers as a high-value specialty crop for diversification on Indiana farms. This led to a 2024 research trial at the Meigs Horticulture Facility (Throckmorton Purdue Ag Center) near Lafayette to evaluate the commercial production potential of…Read more about Specialty Crop Opportunity: First-Year Results of Scotch Bonnet Pepper Trials[Read More]
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Planning your vegetable varieties for the upcoming season? Purdue University has maintained comprehensive records of vegetable variety trials throughout the Midwest since 1999. The Midwest Vegetable Trial Report series offers valuable applied research findings specifically relevant to vegetable and melon production in the Midwest region. Below, you’ll find abstracts from the most recent reports. For…Read more about Data-Driven Decisions: Choosing Vegetable Varieties with Midwest Trial Results[Read More]
Optimizing light management is crucial for producing high-quality vegetable transplants in greenhouse environments. As greenhouse growers gear up for the spring production season, managing light conditions becomes a critical factor in producing high-quality vegetable transplants. With varying natural light levels and the challenges posed by greenhouse structures, understanding and optimizing daily light integral (DLI) is essential…Read more about Managing Daily Light Integral to Improve Vegetable Transplant Quality[Read More]
Dear Valued VCH Readers, Welcome to issue 749, the second edition of the 2025 Vegetable Crops Hotline newsletter! Spring is certainly making its presence felt! The weather has been very mild to hot this past week. It’s a great time to start working ground that has thawed and drained. Don’t get too eager to start…Read more about From The Editor’s Desk[Read More]
How often have you heard that your neighbor received rain while you missed it? Precipitation is highly variable and has significant impacts on communities. Insufficient rainfall can cause drought and water supply issues, while excessive rain can lead to flooding and damage to infrastructure. The dense precipitation measurements provided by the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail,…Read more about Expanding Precipitation Observations in Indiana[Read More]
Passive solar greenhouses are widely used in northern China to grow crops year-round without supplemental heating. My former mentor introduced me to a project by the University of Missouri Extension, where they built a passive solar greenhouse. This past winter, I had the chance to meet Tim Reinbott at a conference and learned that his…Read more about Passive Solar Greenhouses[Read More]
This week, we experienced another round of very cold days, with minimum temperatures dropping into the single digits. Under these conditions, row covers are essential for helping plants survive and preventing cold damage even inside high tunnels. The difference in the minimum temperatures inside and outside of high tunnels may not always be significant, as…Read more about How Much Warmth Row Covers Provide at Extreme Cold Nights?[Read More]
The Summer School for Consumer Food Safety Education is an annual program that conducts continual consumer food safety training for educators and extension volunteers through expert-led presentations. This program serves as a platform to convey updated research information on current trending consumer food safety topics and helps participants gain a better understanding of the food…Read more about Application of GMPs for the Cottage Food Industry: Learnings From the Consumer Food Safety Education Webinar Series[Read More]
In this episode, we speak with Sam Erwin, owner of Indiana Berry Company, a leading supplier of bare-root strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, asparagus, and more. It is fascinating to hear Sam talk about the company’s history and the fruit industry in Indiana, as well as his version and advice for the new generation of fruit growers….Read more about Strawberry Chat Podcast — Interview with Sam Erwin, Indiana Berry Company[Read More]
Growing watermelons in Indiana isn’t always easy if you have cucumber beetles and spider mites. These pests are some of the most damaging to Midwest cucurbits and are commonly managed with a combination of insecticides and miticides. Unfortunately, chemical management for one pest could interfere with control of another pest. For example, spider mite outbreaks…Read more about Want Fewer Spider Mites? Ease Up on the Beetle Spraying![Read More]
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