Bags Protect and Improve Peaches

Web AdminFlorida, Georgia, Organic, Peaches, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By David Campbell and Danielle Treadwell Peach growers have rediscovered a tool to add to their integrated pest and disease management toolbox — a unique paper bag. Easy to install and remove, the bag has extra durability to withstand wind and rain throughout the season. And if our data is consistent with previous observations, bagging may be affordable for many …

Living with Fusarium Wilt

Web AdminCucurbits, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine, Watermelon

With multiple races that are increasingly aggressive, fusarium wilt has been a challenging disease for watermelon growers and a tough nut to crack for southeastern researchers. Nicholas Dufault, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida, says all races of fusarium wilt occur in Florida, but each is a little different. Fusarium wilt …

rubio

Rubio, Colleagues Raise Concerns Regarding Lack of Effective Trade Enforcement for Seasonal Produce in USMCA

Web AdminFlorida, Industry News Release, Trade, USMCA

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), and Al Lawson (D-FL) led a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives in a letter raising concerns to United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer regarding the lack of progress in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) with respect to improved mechanisms to initiate and sustain legitimate anti-dumping and countervailing …

Suppress the Weeds, Not the Crop

Web AdminTomatoes, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

Understanding herbicide injury in tomatoes can help growers protect their investment. By Ramdas Kanissery, Nathan Boyd and Camille McAvoy Herbicides are designed to control undesired plants within a cropping system. Crop injury can occur when herbicides are applied incorrectly. For example, injury can be the result of drift, volatilization, runoff, tank contamination or misapplication of a product. INJURY SYMPTOMS Injury …

water quality

DeSantis Environmental Projects Gets House Support

Web AdminEnvironment, Florida, Industry News Release, Legislative, Water

Gov. Ron DeSantis would get nearly all the money he’s requested for environmental projects in an initial House budget proposal for next year. A $3.97 billion proposal for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission includes $607.4 million for Everglades restoration and water-improvement projects such as combating future …

Improving Fruit Quality in Strawberries

Web AdminFruit, Strawberry, Top Posts

By Alison DeLoach Plant geneticists are always searching for ways to improve fruit quality.  At the recent North American Strawberry Growers Symposium Conference in Orlando, Florida, Kim Lewers, plant geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, presented her research and the methods she uses to breed strawberries. Lewers discussed in detail how she breeds for certain traits, such as disease …

Peach Training and Pruning Pointers

Web AdminPeaches, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Ali Sarkhosh The excessive vegetative growth of low-chill peaches under tropical and subtropical climates can be one of the major problems negatively impacting fruit size and quality. Growers need to spend a significant amount of money and time for manual thinning and pruning to meet the market window. Factors affecting fruit quality include distribution of light in the canopy, …

seeds

UF Researchers Develop Model to Help Keep Crop Seeds Healthy

Web AdminFlorida, Industry News Release, Research, Seeds

Working with international researchers, University of Florida scientists have developed a model that will help protect good seeds, which are necessary to plant healthy crops and determine what areas are at higher risk for unhealthy seeds. In many parts of the world, people lack adequate access to nutritious food because there aren’t enough quality seeds for food production, said Karen …

Growing Multiple Crops on the Same Plastic Mulch

Web Admininnovation, Produce, Research, Strawberry, Top Posts, VSCNews magazine

By Nathan Boyd Vegetable growers throughout the Southeast face intensive economic pressure from foreign competition, volatile markets and increased production costs. Alternative production systems are needed that reduce input costs and increase economic return. One potential approach is to grow more than one crop on the same plastic mulch. The vast majority of horticultural crops in the Southeast are grown …

The Pepper Weevil Problem

Web AdminPests, Top Posts

By Ernie Neff University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) entomologist Hugh Smith says the pepper weevil is a major challenge to growers because it’s “a primary pest that directly attacks the marketable part of the fruit.” Smith, associate professor at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, says the pepper weevil attacks all types …