Welcome to the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s exclusive newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. The harvesting season is progressing well. As part of our evidence-based Extension programs, we have harvested many peppers and watermelons, among other crops, at the TPAC/Meigs Horticulture Facility. We also only have two VCH issues left…Read more about From the Editor’s Desk[Read More]
Found 1626 Articles
If you’re expecting plug plants for your strawberry crops, you’ve likely heard about the emerging threat of Neopestalotiopsis disease. For those unfamiliar, I recommend reading Dr. Phil Brannen’s article, “Dramatic Neopestalotiopsis Disease in Strawberry Tips and Plug Plant Production Nurseries“ from the University of Georgia Extension. Recently, I’ve been in discussions with a few fruit…Read more about Strawberry Growers: Navigating the Challenges of Neopestalotiopsis Disease[Read More]
For those of you with late plantings of sweet corn or field corn that is still in the late stages of silking, do not let your guard down! We are still recording high trap catches throughout the state. Almost every reporting location (except for the Purdue Student Farm) is catching a nightly average of moths…Read more about Corn Earworm (CEW) Trapping Updates[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 three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) throughout most of the growing season,…Read more about Clearspring Fresh Produce Auction Update[Read More]
Pattern changes, like the one we’ve experienced in the middle of the month, are quite typical for August. The humidity decreases a bit, the soils dry out, and sometimes, as we’ve recently experienced, the temperatures drop quite dramatically. It can be refreshing and exciting for Fall lovers to experience some crisp, cool air in mid-August….Read more about Hot for August’s End, Little Rain in Sight[Read More]
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]
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]
Root-knot nematode (RKN, Meloidogyne spp.) is a major problem in cucurbits such as watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkin, and squash. The reason RKN is problematic lies in their ability to persist for long periods in the soil and their wide host range, which includes more than 2,000 plant species, including crops and weeds. RKN infestations are…Read more about Battling Root-knot Nematodes In Commercial Cucurbit Crops[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]
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