Dear Watermelon Growers, At our past winter technical meeting, several growers suggested fertilizer recommendations need to be reevaluated for watermelon production in our area. This suggestion is timely and critical. We plan to initiate a project for the 2020 watermelon production season to reevaluate the fertility and irrigation practices used in Indiana. We will identify[Read More…]
Welcome to a new year of the Vegetable Crops Hotline (VCH), Purdue Extension’s newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. As usual, we will have fifteen issues throughout the 2020 growing season. The first issue of the year is sent to all who subscribed to VCH via US-mail in 2019 as well as new[Read More…]
Tomato and Cucumber growers who are interested in grafting tomato and cucumber plants by themselves may find this information helpful. Step-By-Step instruction of how to graft tomato plants is available from Purdue Extension publication Vegetable Grafting: Techniques for Tomato Grafting https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=HO-260-W as well as a Purdue Extension video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ufx66Isf88 A cucumber grafting instruction was also[Read More…]
Growing media for organic transplant production vary a lot in their chemical composition: pH, electrical conductivity, nutrient levels, and C:N ratio. This of course influences how seedlings grow. Knowing the characteristics of growing media can help growers decide whether adding nutrients or materials to adjust pH are likely to improve seedling growth. As part of[Read More…]
It is time to renew your Indiana Vegetable Growers Association (IVGA) membership for 2020. Please use the form attached to this newsletter or download from ivga.org/renewal.pdf and send in with your membership dues. About IVGA IVGA was established in the early 1900’s to be the Voice for Vegetable Growers in Indiana and is dedicated to[Read More…]
This article introduces a new soil test for high tunnel growers. Why is there a need for a new soil test for high tunnel production? Soil tests are valuable tools helping growers decide how much fertilizers and/or other soil amendments to apply for growing a specific vegetable crop. It also helps growers to detect soil[Read More…]
Warm-season vegetables like tomato, cucumber, pepper etc. often receive premium prices if they were sold at farmers’ markets earlier in the season. The same happens on summer squash, with the different fruit shape and color, summer squash provides a great diversity to the market. High tunnels that are planted with warm-season vegetables are often closed[Read More…]
Recent studies have suggested that on-farm food safety practices can have unexpected economic and ecological impacts. Despite the potential for negative consequences, limited data is available on the costs and benefits of implementing specific practices. Co-managing farms for food safety and sustainability is further complicated because farms are linked to adjacent environments so that management[Read More…]
Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers annual meeting will be held in French Lick, IN on March 13, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. Participants will learn from Purdue extension specialists about the newly searchable Midwest Vegetable Production Guide; new updates on food safety; watermelon grafting; impacts of pesticide use on pollinator health; weed management; lessons[Read More…]
Thanks to the support from NC-SARE, we are going to continue the study of evaluating grafted cucumbers for early season production in greenhouses and high tunnels by collaborating with farmers in 2020. You can find our 2019 on-farm trials’ summary here: https://ag.purdue.edu/arge/swpap/Documents/Summary%20of%202019%20On-farm%20Grafted%20Cucumber%20Trials.pdf. The same as in previous years, we are going to supply grafted and[Read More…]