The Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers Association (SWIM) will have their Annual Meeting beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, March 6, 2015, at the French Lick Resort & Conference Center, 8670 W. State Rd. 56, French Lick, IN. We will be meeting in conjunction with the Illiana Watermelon Association again this[Read More…]
Good Agricultural Practices A to Z Workshops. Workshops are funded by Purdue, as part of AgSEED Crossroads funding to support Indiana’s Agriculture and Rural Development, or by a USDA/ISDA Specialty Crops Block Grant to Purdue. Programs focused on cantaloupe are also relevant to other fresh fruits and vegetables; all growers are welcome to attend. Tuesday,[Read More…]
Welcome to a new year of the Vegetable Crops Hotline, Purdue Extension’s newsletter for people in the business of growing vegetables. Our goal is to provide timely information that will be useful for Indiana vegetable growers. If there is something you’d like to see included, please let us know. Frequently we include links to web[Read More…]
The goal of the Vegetable Crops Hotline is to provide vegetable growers with timely information that helps you to improve your vegetable production and marketing. This url tinyurl.com/lqww2lw links to a very short survey that will help us to make the Hotline more useful to you. We are especially interested in any comments you have[Read More…]
Scott Monroe, former Extension ANR Educator in Daviess County, began work in a new role on January 1 as Purdue Extension’s new Food Safety Educator. Scott grew up on a watermelon farm in southwest Indiana and has spent his entire career involved in different facets of the produce industry. He will be based at the[Read More…]
As we approach the 2015 growing season, produce food safety continues to be an important issue. This year, why not make it one of your goals to create a “culture” of food safety on your farm? Below are some things you can do to get started on that goal during the winter months:Review (or get[Read More…]
Transplant production will soon begin in earnest if not already underway. It is sensible to check the greenhouse heating system before starting production to make sure it works and won’t pollute the air in the greenhouse. This checklist for gas or propane-fire unit heaters highlights some of the major points. If you are not familiar[Read More…]
Many Indiana vegetable crops begin life as transplants. If lack of nutrients, lack of light, disease, or other problems slow growth during this stage it may reduce establishment success and/or growth and yield in the field or high tunnel. Good management of the following factors should lead to healthy transplants (see Figure 1). Time. Don’t[Read More…]
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…]
The Midwest Vegetable Production Guide for Commercial Growers, or ID-56, remains a popular resource for growers in the region. If you haven’t got the 2015 edition yet, don’t delay! Members of the Indiana Vegetable Growers Association for 2015 receive a copy at no additional charge and hard copies can be purchased from The Education Store[Read More…]
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