Indiana Grown is an initiative through the Indiana State Department of agriculture that supports products made by Hoosiers for Hoosiers. If you grow, raise, package or produce a product in Indiana then Indiana Grown is right for you. As a member, you will have access to the Indiana Grown logo, promotional and marketing support, a…Read more about Indiana Grown[Read More]
Vegetable Crops - General
The use of tractor drawn pesticide sprayers is not practical for many smaller growers. Two alternatives are garden-sprayers or backpack sprayers. I will argue here that garden-sprayers are not suited for most commercial pesticide use. The typical garden sprayer that may be found at a garden shop or hardware store usually has a 1 or…Read more about Garden Sprayer vs Backpack Sprayer[Read More]
Small vegetable growers may find pesticide applications with a tractor driven sprayers impractical. Such growers may turn to hand sprayers. In a separate article, I argued that garden sprayers are not appropriate for most commercial pesticide applications. In this article, I will discuss the use and calibration of a backpack sprayer, an excellent alternative to…Read more about Backpack Sprayer Use[Read More]
We can never emphasize too much the importance of conducting soil tests. Ideally, soil test should be conducted on a yearly basis. The reason soil testing is so important is because it provides information about the nutrient composition of the soil so that growers will know how much fertilizer to apply for the following season….Read more about Soil Tests[Read More]
Screening can be an effective measure to exclude unwanted pests from colonizing your crops. In high tunnels, one of the biggest challenges to successfully implementing exclusion screening is managing the unintended side effect: reduced airflow. In spring we are clamoring to get inside the warmth that high tunnels provide, but by mid-summer they can become…Read more about High Tunnel Screening for Insect Pest Management[Read More]
The North Central Regional FSMA Center is again seeking fresh produce growers input in order to determine how they can help growers comply with the Produce Safety Rule of FSMA. This is the second survey for fresh produce growers and will take about 5 minutes to complete. Your inputs, whether you responded to the first…Read more about North Central Regional Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance Seeking Grower Input – Round 2[Read More]
Vegetable growers are familiar with pesticide labels that specify how much of a product may be applied. As commercial growers, we usually think about such instructions as telling us how much pesticide is the right amount to apply to a crop to be effective. While such an interpretation is correct, there is more to the labeled rates…Read more about The Results are in: Pesticide Residues in Produce[Read More]
Fall is already here and winter is closer than expected. As business starts to slow take the opportunity to reflect on what was great, good, or not-so-good during this growing season. This time of year also brings the opportunity to start planning next year’s strategies. Pricing strategy is one of the key strategies influencing your…Read more about The Top Five Things to Consider Before Pricing Your Products[Read More]
The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) strives to facilitate widespread adoption of cover crops throughout the Midwest, to improve ecological, economic, and social sustainability. The Cover Crop Decision Tool is an initiative by the MCCC to consolidate cover crop information by state to help farmers make cover crop selections at the county level. The tool…Read more about Cover Crop Decision Tool for Vegetable Growers – Discussion on November 7th[Read More]
As Indiana growers finish up the 2017 season, it is important to remember to clean and sanitize equipment and tools. In this article, I would like to discuss the importance of and how to sanitize. Bacteria and fungi that cause plant disease may survive on some types of equipment. Examples include: stakes, transplant trays, shovels, greenhouse…Read more about Fall Clean and Sanitize[Read More]