Solanaceous Crops


Plan to join us for a full day of touring fruit and vegetable production at Garwood Orchards in LaPorte, IN on July 9. Garwoods is among the very best fruit and vegetable production operations in the Midwest, so you will not want to miss the opportunity to learn a few of their tricks of the…Read more about Summer Field Tour – Fruits and Vegetables – July 9[Read More]


In 2023, BASF registered Rely® 280 for use in cantaloupe, cucumber, summer squash, watermelon, tomato, and pepper. The registration occurred as two separate supplemental labels- one for cucurbits and one for fruiting vegetables. Both supplemental labels were set to expire in December of 2025. These supplemental labels allowed for the use of Rely® 280 as…Read more about Rely® 280 Herbicide – Going, Going, Gone[Read More]


The Tomato Organic Management and Improvement (TOMI) project, led by Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Prof. Dr. Lori Hoagland, collaborated with the Culinary Breeding Network to create a Tomato Zine for the general public. The zine highlights the crop’s history, introduces basic botanical traits and culinary attributes, and explains how the TOMI project is working to help tomato…Read more about A Tomato Zine for the General Public[Read More]


As the growing season picks up, high tunnel growers planning to cultivate tomatoes should keep an eye out for the small but mighty tomato pinworm, Keiferia lycopersicella (TPW). The adult moths are up to 6 mm in length, with mottled brown spots (Fig. 1). They are active at night and remain hidden, resting on foliage during the…Read more about Time to Start Monitoring for Tomato Pinworm[Read More]


Most shoppers and food manufacturers don’t buy produce from a farm field; they need veggies that have been washed, sorted, and prepped to consume. In Indiana, crops like tomatoes, pumpkins, and melons thrive, in part, because of strong middle-supply-chain processes that ready them for wholesale markets. Whether in ketchup or toothpaste, you’ve probably consumed an…Read more about Unlocking Markets in the Middle Supply Chain[Read More]


Vegetable Chat is a webinar series focusing on vegetable crop production. The series is designed primarily for commercial vegetable growers, though producers of all scales may find the information valuable. Each session will feature an expert presentation and Q&A discussion. Session #3 will focus on POTATO. We will hear from Chris Long, potato Extension specialist…Read more about Vegetable Chat: Potato Production in the Great Lakes Region[Read More]


If you’ve ever wondered how to systematically evaluate flavor in vegetable breeding lines, here’s an opportunity to learn from the experts. Join eOrganic for a webinar on March 4, 2026, on cultinary evaluations of vegetable breeding lines, presented by Jordyn Bunting and Lane Selman! The webinar takes place at 11 AM Pacific Time (12 PM…Read more about How to Conduct Culinary Quality Evaluations of Vegetable Breeding Lines[Read More]


Over the last few weeks, we have received multiple tomato samples at the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab with buckeye rot of the fruit. This is likely due to the recent wet and humid weather we have been experiencing. Buckeye rot is a disease caused by three different Phytophthora species: P. capsici, P. drechsleri,…Read more about Buckeye Rot of Tomato[Read More]


If you are a high tunnel tomato grower, you may have encountered small, blotchy leaf mines (Figure 1) or tiny brown mottled moths (Figure 2) on your plants in the past few years. These tiny pests are the tomato pinworm, Keiferia lycopersicella (family Gelechiidae). They should not be confused with the leaf mining fly, Liromyza…Read more about Insect Spotlight: Tomato Pinworm[Read More]


Fruit cracking is one of the most commonly observed disorders affecting many fruit crops. Cracking can occur in different forms, such as radial splits extending from the stem end, splits at the blossom end, or concentric rings around the fruit. Research has shown that multiple factors influence fruit cracking. Some cultivars are more susceptible to…Read more about What Caused the Cracking of Tomatoes and Melons?[Read More]


Page last modified: July 25, 2025

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