Bacterial fruit blotch is a disease that can affect most cucurbits (see Figure 1). However, the symptoms are most often observed on watermelon. A brief description of this disease and some photos can be found here. This article will introduce new recommendations for this disease in Indiana. Details of these recommendations can be found in the Midwest Vegetable Production[Read More…]
While visiting my son in Lincoln, Nebraska this past summer, I had the chance to browse in a second hand store.I felt myself drawn to the book section where I found a green hard cover book titled, “Yearbook of Agriculture, 1928”. From 1894 until 1992, the Department of Agriculture published a Yearbook of Agriculture annually.[Read More…]
For 100 years bacterial spot has been causing huge losses for tomato growers worldwide. For 100 years products containing copper have held the key to controlling this devastating tomato disease. As tomato growers enter their second century of dealing with bacterial spot, the question has become whether copper applications lessen the severity of bacterial spot-or[Read More…]
The title of this article is pretty scary. But it isn’t entirely accurate. Pumpkins won’t really rot from the inside out. In this article, I will describe one way in which pumpkins can seem to rot from the inside out. Recently, I was asked to visit a field of pumpkins where the pumpkins were soft[Read More…]
The Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers Association will hold their technical meeting and variety trial showcase on Thursday, November 20, 2014, in the basement of the Southwest Purdue Ag Center, 4369 N. Purdue Road, Vincennes, IN.The meeting will start at 5 p.m. with a general business meeting. At 6 p.m., dinner will be served.[Read More…]
The photos that accompany this article are of lesions caused by various diseases that occur on tomato fruit. The list includes diseases I commonly see in Indiana, so the list is not all inclusive. More information can be found on the Purdue Tomato Doctor app. I welcome any comments or questions. Bacterial spot of tomato.[Read More…]
Over the past few weeks, I have observed several watermelon fields with relatively large areas of wilted plants.There can be several reasons for such symptoms.In the article below, I will discuss late season Fusarium wilt of watermelon.In a separate article, I will discuss mature watermelon vine decline.In a separate article/blog I discussed root knot nematode.All[Read More…]
The low tonight is forecasted to be 28 F. In preparation, we placed clear plastic over each row. This type of plastic is not vented. Therefore, one must be very careful to watch the temperature inside the tunnel when there is direct sunlight. Although we made it through last night, tomorrow morning will be the[Read More…]