Lasioglossum sweat bees are common pollinators in agricultural landscapes. These bees are small black, brown, or iridescent green/blue bees that belong to the family Halictidae. They can often be mistaken for flies due to their small size and nondescript appearance compared to other bees. These bees are historically overlooked as important pollinators for crops compared…Read more about Insect Spotlight: Lasioglossum Sweat Bees[Read More]
Vegetable Crops - General
Common names: Common ragweed, annual ragweed, hogweed, hay-fever weed, Roman wormweed, and bitterweed. Latin name: Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. “Ambrosia” is from Greek mythology and refers to the food or drink of the gods, often associated with granting immortality. Meanwhile, “artemisiifolia” indicates that the foliage of common ragweed looks like the foliage of plants from the…Read more about Weed Sptolight: Common Ragweed[Read More]
Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. This issue includes our regular insect and weed spotlight articles, an update on the Clearspring Produce Auction, a weather outlook update, and take a look at the impact of root-knot nematode on commercial cucurbit crops. Details…Read more about From The Editor’s Desk[Read More]
After a period of hot and humid weather where heat indices reached triple digits in some locations, we welcome cooler than normal temperatures for the next several days. It is still summer, though, so sweaters, mittens, and scarves will not be necessary! There were a few temperature records broken over the August 5-6, 2024, period,…Read more about Cooler Temperatures should Settle in for a While[Read More]
Common names: purslane, pusley, pursley, wild portulaca, common portulaca, little hooweed, low pigweed Latin name: Portulaca oleracea L. Family: Portulacaceae (Purslane family) Life Cycle Common purslane is a summer annual that extends along the ground with its thick, fleshy stems and leaves (Figure 1). Thanks to its ability to reproduce not only by seeds but…Read more about Weed Spotlight: Common Purslane[Read More]
Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. Everyone is probably seeing a glut of tomatoes and other vegetables coming in from the farm or your personal gardens. It is certainly the month of plenty! This issue includes an important notice from the…Read more about From The Editor’s Desk[Read More]
Extracted from a SARE email received on August 1, 2024. The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) 2025 Partnership Grant Program Call for Proposals is now available online at: https://northcentral.sare.org/Grants/Apply-for-a-Grant/Partnership-Grant/. NCR-SARE’s Partnership Grant Program is intended to foster cooperation between agriculture professionals and small groups of farmers and ranchers to catalyze…Read more about NCR-SARE Announces 2025 Call for Partnership Grant Proposals[Read More]
The Clearspring Produce Auction is located just 2 miles south of US 20 in Clearspring Township in the Heart of the LaGrange-Elkhart Amish Settlement. It is within easy driving distance of the towns of Shipshewana, Topeka, Emma, and LaGrange. Produce is sold 3 days a week throughout most of the growing season (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday),…Read more about Clearspring Produce Auction Update[Read More]
Description Spined stilt bugs are small, slender insects in the family Berytidae. Typically brown or bronze in color, these insects have slim bodies with long and thin legs (Figure 1). The antennae of stilt bugs bend at very sharp angles and frequently have obvious swelling at the tip. Occasionally, some stilt bug species will also…Read more about Insect Spotlight: The Spined Stilt Bug[Read More]
In a press release on August 6, 2024, the EPA announced the emergency suspension of all registrations of DCPA (marketed and sold as Dacthal® herbicide). The full press release can be viewed here: EPA Issues Emergency Order to Stop Use of Pesticide Dacthal to Address Serious Health Risk | US EPA Why did EPA do…Read more about EPA Issues Emergency Order to Stop the Use of Dacthal herbicide[Read More]