Managing Sweet Corn Silk Flies

Web AdminCorn, Florida, Top Posts, VSC Expo

Silk flies are a major pest for South Florida sweet corn growers, but Julien Beuzelin, assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Everglades Research and Education Center, is working to lessen the threat these pests pose. He gave an overview of his silk fly research at the recent Vegetable & Specialty Crop (VSC) Expo. According to Beuzelin, there are three …

Working Toward Disease-Resistant Sweet Corn

Web AdminCorn, Research, Top Posts

By Karla Arboleda Northern and southern corn leaf blights (NCLB and SCLB) are global problems. Caused by different fungi, these diseases have a history of devastating results in the United States. While the fungi that cause NCLB and SCLB have been heavily researched in field corn, scientists have only just gained traction when it comes to resistance in sweet corn. …

Battling Silk Flies in South Florida Sweet Corn

Web AdminCorn, Pests, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Julien Beuzelin South Florida sweet corn growers continue to face two major insect problems: fall armyworms and corn silk flies. The two pests can be devastating, but corn silk flies are more challenging to manage than fall armyworms under current production practices. Three silk fly species have been reported to cause the majority of the damage: Euxesta eluta, Euxesta …

University of Florida Aims to Improve Sweet Corn

Web AdminCorn, Research, Top Posts, Uncategorized

By Breanna Kendrick There’s been a lot of advances in using genomics to help improve plant breeding. Most of the advances in corn have focused on field corn, but now researchers are aiming to improve sweet corn. Mark Settles, University of Florida (UF) horticultural sciences professor, and his team are working to find new traits for sweet corn growers and …

scientists

UF Scientists Hope to Breed Better-Tasting Sweet Corn

Web AdminCorn, Industry News Release, Research

University of Florida (UF) scientists plan to use a $7.3 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) to find the genetic traits that will make sweet corn taste even better, last longer and grow better across the nation. Mark Settles, a professor of horticultural sciences at the UF Institute of …

Celebrate Sweet Corn Harvest Season with Local Farmers

Web AdminCorn, Industry News Release, Top Posts

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA – Sweet corn season is in full swing in Palm Beach County’s Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), with farmers projected to harvest 430 million ears of locally grown sweet corn by the end of May. Almost as many ears will be listening for the starting bell that inaugurates the International Federation of Competitive Eaters Corn Eating Contest at …

Best Practices for Corn Silk Fly Management

Clint ThompsonSpecialty Crop Grower Magazine

By Julien Beuzelin and Anna MĂ©száros Maggots feeding on silks, kernels and sometimes the cob of sweet corn ears harvested in Florida represent the greatest insect pest threat to the state’s fresh market sweet corn industry. These maggots are the larvae of three fly species known as corn silk flies. What to Look For Although the maggots of the three …

Southern Corn Leaf Blight Disease on Rise in South Florida

Web AdminCorn, Disease, Florida

Corn growers in southern Florida should be wary that Southern corn leaf blight disease is on the rise, according to the South Florida Pest and Disease Hotline. The disease is starting to appear in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Incidences are low but increasing in corn. Low levels of southern corn leaf blight were reported in a few fields in Southwest …

Sweet Grown Alabama Under the Spotlight at Expo

Web AdminAlabama

By Clint Thompson Sweet Grown Alabama is under the spotlight this week at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia. Alabama is the spotlight state during the three-day event, which has allowed attendees, numbering close to 50,000, the opportunity to explore the diverse agricultural landscape that is Alabama production. Marlee Jackson, publications director at Alabama Farmers Federation, described what it …

Farmers Be on Alert for Corn Earworm

Web AdminAlabama

By Clint Thompson Alabama sweet corn producers should be mindful that corn earworm populations are spiking and pose a threat to their crop. Katelyn Kesheimer, Auburn University assistant professor and Extension specialist, talked about the insect and described what growers are seeing this year. “It was hit or miss depending on if you got hit with some of those major …