Recent rain and cold conditions have brought detrimental effects to some of the early planted vegetables. In southwest Indiana, air temperatures have dropped into the 40s °F and soil temperatures have dropped into the 50s °F in early May. The low temperatures would have greatly inhibited absorption of water and mineral nutrients for many warm season vegetables. In one…Read more about Effects of the Recent Rain and Cold Conditions on Vegetable Production[Read More]
Cool Temperature
Last week, we received calls from several watermelon growers who reported that their newly planted watermelon seedlings had died (Figure 1). After closely inspecting the affected plants, we did not find any pathogens. This reminded us of what happened to our cucumbers back in early April in our high tunnel. We will review the cucumber…Read more about Establishment Failure of Watermelon and Cucumber Transplants Because of Low Soil Temperatures[Read More]
Recent cool weather increases the occurrence of zippering on high tunnel tomatoes. We observed at least 20% of developing fruit (most on the first and second flower clusters) on the variety Mountain Spring showed the zippering symptoms in our high tunnel. A typical symptom of the disorder is a thin, brown, necrotic scar that starts from the…Read more about Tomato Zippering[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]