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 about How Do Growing Media for Organic Production Compare?[Read More]
Liz Maynard
Clinical Engagement Assistant Professor of Horticulture
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Liz Maynard's website
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Liz Maynard's website
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 about Indiana Hort Congress—Vegetable Session[Read More]
On April 17, 2018, Purdue University and Indiana University Bloomington teamed up to present a webinar about using high tunnels in Indiana. The recording is now available on the Purdue Extension Youtube channel at https://youtu.be/dpm4t4Ws5nQ. The 95-minute webinar introduces the upcoming High Tunnel Handbook for Indiana growers and summarizes key findings and recommendations from a…Read more about High Tunnel Webinar Recording Available[Read More]
Have you ever wondered how much difference new plastic would make in terms of light getting to crops in a high tunnel? We replaced 6-year-old plastic on High Tunnel 1 at Pinney Purdue Ag Center last week. Figure 1 below shows the high tunnel before and after recovering, and pieces of the old and new…Read more about New Plastic Equals More Light in a High Tunnel[Read More]
Many pesticides for use on vegetables have varying rules for use in different states. This article will review the different classes of labels for pesticides and where to find labels online. The shorthand names for classes of labels come from the section of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act that governs each class. National…Read more about Finding Pesticide Labels for State-specific Registrations[Read More]
The USDA lab out of Wooster, Ohio is interested in surveying Indiana sweet corn for virus. They are especially interested in sweet corn near johnsongrass, but other fields are ok too. If you are interested, please let me know or contact Mark Jones, USDA Agronomist,mark.jones@ars.usda.gov, (330) 202-3555 ext. 2837. Your participation would be pretty simple:…Read more about Sweet Corn Virus Survey[Read More]
Reports of vegetable trials from 2017 are published online in the Midwest Vegetable Trial Report for 2017. There are reports of variety trials for green beans, cantaloupe/muskmelon, slicing and pickling cucumbers, ornamental corn, bell peppers in field and high tunnels russet potatoes, pumpkins, spinach in high tunnel, butternut squash in stripped-till rye, sweet corn, fresh…Read more about Midwest Vegetable Trial Report for 2017[Read More]
Slides from presentations at the 2018 Illiana Vegetable Growers Symposium and many of the fresh market vegetable sessions at the 2018 Indiana Hort Congress are available online. Visit https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/fruitveg/Pages/presentations.aspx.
This article is my response to a grower’s question about lowering soil pH in a high tunnel. The soil test indicated pH of the soil in his high tunnel was 7.7. The high pH could be partially caused by alkaline water he used to use for irrigation. The grower has changed the water source, but…Read more about Lowering Soil pH in High Tunnels[Read More]
The Indiana Vegetable Growers Association board is seeking board members for 3-year terms beginning at the annual meeting in February 2018. Members interested in serving, or with suggestions for potential members, should contact President John Young at jmyoungco@yahoo.com or 5028 E. Landersdale Rd. Mooresville, IN 46158. For more information about the IVGA visit ivga.org.