We have grown strawberries from Aug, 2015 to May, 2016 in one of our high tunnels at Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center. After taking the strawberry plants out of the high tunnel in the end of May, we did have enough time to grow a warm-season crop, like cucumbers. However, because for most of us June…Read more about A Case Study: What Cover Crops Could Achieve in High Tunnels in the Middle of Summer?[Read More]
Vegetable Crops - General
High Tunnel Tour at SWPAC Date: August 22, 2016 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Location: Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center, 4369 North Purdue Road, Vincennes, IN 47591 Please join us for a high tunnel tour at the Southwest Purdue Ag Center. You will learn about high tunnel tomato diseases and management, end of season field sanitation, potential…Read more about Upcoming Events[Read More]
Driving across IN now, it is not uncommon to see many recently built high tunnels standing along the roadsides. These structures have become an important tool for farmers to extend production seasons of vegetable and fruit crops. Compared with traditional greenhouses, high tunnel demand much less energy as they are heated by solar energy and…Read more about Chinese-style Solar Greenhouses[Read More]
Read more about Chinese-style Solar GreenhousesPickin’ and Packin’: 2016 Postharvest Produce Workshop Date: July 12, 2016, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM (EDT) Location: Purdue University, Nelson Hall of Food Science, Rm 1195, 745 Agriculture Mall Dr. West Lafayette, IN 47906 Workshops will be offered for updating produce growers on the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Rule and other food safety issues. It…Read more about Upcoming Events[Read More]
There is a variety of commercial suppliers to choose from when purchasing predatory insects and parasitoids for biological control. Some of them rear the insects themselves and others are distributors for some of the larger rearing facilities in Europe and Canada. There are some key things to consider when choosing a supplier. The first of…Read more about Considerations and Suppliers for Biological Control[Read More]
Supplementing the natural enemy population to control insect pests, i.e. augmentation biological control, is of interest to many high tunnel producers. Augmentation biological control has proven very effective at managing a number of greenhouse pests and there are a variety of commercial suppliers. For high tunnels, the greatest challenge is keeping the released predators or…Read more about Augmentation Biological Control in High Tunnels[Read More]
The vegetable extension team at Purdue University is always looking for innovative ways to get information to clients quickly. For this reason, we are trying out a new program called veggie texts. The idea is that if we have your mobile phone number and the name of your phone carrier, then we can send you text…Read more about Veggie Texts[Read More]
Samples in plug trays, as well as unrooted and rooted cuttings, and plants in pots require extra care when they are packaged for submittal to a diagnostic lab. Before you mail the next sample, please take a few minutes to review these suggestions for packaging and submitting samples. This will help preserve the integrity of…Read more about Tips for Submitting Greenhouse Samples to the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab (PPDL)[Read More]
As predicted last week, I have received a number of reports of damage to various vegetables from the root and seed maggots. These pests need to be managed preventively. First, by limiting the amount of decaying organic matter (cover crops, compost, manure) that attracts the flies, growers can reduce the number of eggs laid. Second,…Read more about Root and Seed Maggots[Read More]
The cool weather this spring means that many early-planted warm season crops have probably been stressed by cool temperatures more than usual. A number of herbicides labeled for vegetable crops include warnings not to use when the crop is or will be under stress. A stressed crop may not be able to detoxify the herbicide…Read more about Cool Temperatures and Excess Rain may Increase Crop Injury from Labeled Herbicides[Read More]