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 2019 growing season. The first issue of the year is sent to all who subscribed to VCH via US-mail in 2018 as well as new subscribers for 2019. To…Read more about Welcome to a New Year of Vegetable Crops Hotline[Read More]
Please welcome Dr. Brock Harpur as a new Assistant Professor in Pollinator Biology. He joins the Department of Entomology, Purdue University. A native of British Columbia, Canada, Brock is a specialist in honey bee genetics and the evolution of social insects. He will take up honeybee research program plus provide extension expertise to bee-keepers both…Read more about Welcome New Faculty Dr. Brock Harpur[Read More]
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]
High tunnels, though relatively new, have gained popularity over the past decade among specialty crop growers who want to extend their growing season. However, these environments can make crops vulnerable to the development of soil-borne diseases that reduce yield. This is particularly true for tomatoes, which are the most commonly grown high tunnel crop and…Read more about Dealing with Yield Decline in High Tunnel Tomatoes[Read More]
With the growing interest from consumers looking for new, unique products, yellow– and orange-flesh watermelons might create opportunities for small-sized growers to differentiate their products. This article answers a few questions you may have about growing and marketing these unique type of watermelons. Yellow and orange-flesh watermelons usually have narrow strips with varying degree of green…Read more about Yellow- and Orange-flesh Watermelons[Read More]
Watermelon variety trials are conducted every year at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center in Vincennes, IN. In the 2018 trials, it included 38 standard-size seedless watermelon cultivars and 10 personal-size watermelons. This article discussed the top yielding varieties in our trials in 2018. The full report of the variety trials, and information about the previous…Read more about Watermelon Cultivar Update from the 2018 Indiana Watermelon Variety Trial[Read More]
Cover crops can be a useful conservation practice for improving soil health, scavenging and recycling nutrients, reducing erosion, and contributing to more resilient cropping systems over the long term. Two new extension publications about Cover Crop Recipes for Indiana are available at the Purdue Education Store: https://edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=AY-356-W https://edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=AY-357-W There is also a webinar scheduled on Feb….Read more about Cover Crop Recipes for Cover Crop Users in Indiana[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 about Learn How to Graft Cucumber and Tomato Plants[Read More]
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development is undertaking a major redesign of its Uplink Employer Self-Service system (ESS) to better meet the needs of employers. ESS provides employers with online access to Unemployment Insurance account information, including report submission, tax payments and information on account issues. The first phase of the redesign will be completed…Read more about Major Redesign Coming to Uplink ESS[Read More]
Looking for information about new crop varieties? Reports on variety performance of sweet corn, pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini, melon, watermelon, picking cucumber, pepper, tomato, heritage beans, and specialty eggplant are available online at https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/fruitveg/Pages/mvtr2018.aspx.
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