Dear Valued VCH Readers,
Welcome to This Week’s Vegetable Crops Hotline – Our Final Issue for 2025
As we close out the 2025 growing season, this marks our final newsletter issue of the year. We’ll return with our next regular issue on February 20, 2026. Should any urgent matters arise during our winter break, we’ll publish them as hot topics to keep you informed, so stay tuned.
The end of the growing season is an ideal time to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve for next year. If you’ve found yourself wishing you had better records of plantings, treatments, harvest dates, and yields, now is the perfect moment to set up a system for 2026. We’re excited to share information about free digital database templates that have been vetted by Purdue faculty and are actually used on Purdue farms—customizable tools that can streamline your record-keeping and planning for the seasons ahead.
This final issue also celebrates the vibrant educational infrastructure supporting Indiana’s vegetable growers. We’ll take you inside the Purdue Student Farm, which has grown from a modest student project in 2010 into one of the country’s most dynamic educational farms, integrating teaching, research, and Extension on 3.5 acres. For those considering a transition to organic production, we’ll highlight an upcoming Organic University event in November that brings together expert knowledge and practical guidance specifically tailored for Midwest growers.
As we bid farewell to the 2025 growing season, we encourage you to take advantage of these late-season learning opportunities and use the quieter winter months to plan, organize, and prepare for an even more successful 2026 growing season. Thank you for being part of our community this year—we look forward to reconnecting in February!
Who Plants Broccoli During the Third week of September in Indiana?
Well, I did. It was a last-minute decision, the ground was ready and the beds were already made. Ideally, broccoli should be planted during the last week of August or the beginning of September in West-central Indiana. It will be interesting to see how the varieties will perform with all the heat they received during the last two weeks of September and early October. It has also been super dry.
Figure 1. Broccoli variety trial established at the Meigs Horticulture Facility, Lafayette IN (Photo by Petrus Langenhoven).
The broccoli varieties planted include Sibsey (33 days), Eastern Crown (58 days), Emerald Crown (60 days), Eastern Magic (62 days), Asteroid (67 days), Imperial (71 days), Millennium (74 days), and Castle Dome (75 days). Seeds were sown in 128-count trays on August 28, 2025, and transplanted on September 16. That puts the harvest date for varieties with the longest days to maturity at November 30. We will certainly experience a hard freeze by then. To learn more about the variety trial results, download the published results from the Midwest Vegetable Trial Report in January 2026.
Indiana Horticulture and Small Farm Conference, March 3-5, 2026
Save this date! In 2026, for the very first time, the Indiana Horticulture Conference & Expo and the Indiana Small Farm Conference are joining forces to present a joint meeting at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds from March 3 to 5. Join us as we merge two popular Purdue Extension events into one dynamic conference. Designed for specialty crop growers and small farmers region-wide, featuring premier educational sessions.
Growers and Purdue Extension Educators
Your input and expertise make this newsletter a truly useful resource. If you have hot topics you’d like us to cover, success stories to share, or questions for our Extension specialists, please get in touch with us at plangenh@purdue.edu or contact the specialist directly. We also welcome high-quality photos of pest issues, unusual symptoms, or innovative production practices you’ve implemented on your farm.
Website Links in Newsletter Articles
We frequently include links to websites or online publications. If you are unable to access these resources, please don’t hesitate to contact your local Purdue Extension office or us to request a hard copy of the information.
Midwest Vegetable Production Guide
The 2025 Midwest Vegetable Production guide is now available for growers to visit online at mwveguide.org, or you can download and print a guide from your computer at mwveguide.org/guide. The guide can also be purchased for $15 per copy. Contact your Extension Office or Stephen Meyers (slmeyeres@purdue.edu) directly to buy a copy.
Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports
Are you still considering purchasing vegetable seeds? The Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports feature many articles to help you make an informed decision. The resource also hosts research results related to production.
Best regards,
Petrus Langenhoven
Clinical Assistant Professor and Vegetable Extension Specialist
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Purdue University