Getting seedlings off to a good start begins with a good growing medium for transplants. Growing media for organic production must meet the guidelines set out by the National Organic Standards Board, including not containing any synthetic substances (unless they have been approved for that use) or any prohibited materials. A number of products meet[Read More…]
2019 Indiana Small Farm Conference Date: February 28 to March 2, 2019 Location: Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Danville, Indiana Registration ends 2/20/19. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.purdue.edu/dffs/smallfarms/ Michiana Greenhouse & High Tunnel Growers Meeting Date: March 5, 2019 9:00 am – 3:30 pm Location: Elkhart County 4-H fairgrounds. 17746 County Rd[Read More…]
Vegetable growers will find information-packed sessions at the Indiana Hort Congress next February. A few of the featured topics are highlighted in this article. Visit inhortcongress.org to see the full schedule and register. Climate will be the focus on Tuesday afternoon in a session sponsored by the USDA Midwest Climate Hub, Midwestern Regional Climate Center,[Read More…]
SWIM meeting * Parke Co. Veg. meeting * Illiana Veg Symposium * Indiana Hort Congress * Small Farm Conference Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers’ Technical Meeting Date: November 15, 2018 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm (EST) Location: Southwest Purdue Ag Center (SWPAC), 4369 N. Purdue Road, Vincennes, IN The main focus of the Southwest Indiana Melon[Read More…]
Crop rotation is a standard part of vegetable crop production. At its core, crop rotation is a management tactic meant to disrupt pest lifecycles and decrease the incidence of economically damaging infestations of insects and pathogens. However, surprisingly little scientific research appears to have explored which rotations are most effective for breaking pest lifecycles and[Read More…]
Striped cucumber beetle can be a significant pest in watermelon production systems. These pests can cause feeding damage to roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of plants as well as the watermelon fruit itself (Figure 1). In large enough densities, this damage can lead to economic loss. The economic threshold for striped cucumber beetles in watermelon[Read More…]
Insecticides are often needed to control pests in vegetable crops, but in crops that require pollinators we often worry about the impact those insecticides may have on those pollinators (Figure 1). In the summer of 2018, a team of researchers at Purdue University explored the effects of insecticide applications on watermelon yield across Indiana, considering[Read More…]
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