Photo by Clint Thompson
By Clint Thompson and Frank Giles
Specialty crop growers gathered in Savannah in January for the annual Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Concurrent seminars allowed growers to choose their educational topics. Here are a few highlights from the educational program.
New Pesticide Regulations
Stanley Culpepper, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension weed scientist, believes 2025 will be a pivotal year for specialty crop growers attempting to navigate future regulations surrounding pesticide use. This is a result of the implementation of new regulations related to the Endangered Species Act in the registration and application of pesticides by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“Every one of us in the future, as we go through registration and re-registration of pesticides, is going to have certain requirements on every product that we apply. Helping you understand how to overcome that by implementing mitigation strategies, understanding the strategies and value of the effectiveness of that strategy is critical,” Culpepper said.
Culpepper conducted a workshop at the conference to walk growers through mitigation requirements enacted by the EPA to guard against runoff and buffers. Mitigation strategies are based on a points system that growers tally before applying a pesticide.
Neopestalotiopsis Update
Neopestalotiopsis (neo) disease was a big topic in the strawberry educational session. One of the speakers, Phil Brannen, UGA Extension fruit disease specialist, believes the disease’s impact this year is directly linked to where growers obtained their plants.
“For producers that got their plants from sources where there’s no history of the disease, especially those that are bringing in plants from California, we’re not seeing the disease at all. The source of the plants this year is the story. If you’ve got plants — the plugs or tips — that came in with neo, it has not gotten any better,” Brannen said.
Looking at Labor
During the business operations seminar, there was a special session held looking at the labor situation, and in particular, the H-2A program. Ann Margaret Pointer, senior counsel for Atlanta-based law firm Fisher Phillips, spoke about the numerous legal challenges H-2A is facing across the country.
One of those significant to Georgia and 16 other states is a case challenging the new H-2A worker protection rules. A judge has ordered a temporary injunction on these new rules while the case is under consideration. The 17 states that joined in this lawsuit are operating under the old worker protection rules.
“I was thrilled to see this injunction in Georgia, and it has been a springboard for some of these other lawsuits across the country. Maybe it can be a basis to go to this new administration and say here’s all of the evidence these plaintiffs have put forth in front of these courts to show how burdensome these regulations are,” Pointer said.
San Jose Scale in Peaches
Timing remains a vital part of San Jose scale management for peach producers in the Southeast, explained UGA Assistant Professor Brett Blaauw during his presentation. He stressed that growers’ first line of defense is to apply a delayed dormant spray. If there are still issues later in the season, or if there are orchards with hot spots of San Jose scale, growers can apply another insecticide like Movento. This is usually around late April or early May.
Watermelon Fertilizer
Knowledge of proper fertilization rates for Georgia watermelon production is important for growers, especially as a new season looms. Tim Coolong, UGA associate professor, was tasked with enlightening growers at the conference about fertilizer rates and why they are set at certain levels.
Photo by Jeffrey G. Williamson, UF/IFAS
“Typically, in Georgia, we recommend between 100 and 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre. That’s a big spread,” Coolong said. “That recommendation encompasses growers who might be on 8- or 9-foot centers all the way down to your growers who are doing melons on 5-foot centers on big beds of plastic. Those production systems with fewer melons per acre generally use less fertility, because they’re not getting the yields that the high-intensity systems are getting.”
Florida Blueberry Varieties
Florida blueberry farmers are not placing all of their eggs in one basket when it comes to planting varieties. That’s encouraging news for University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences blueberry breeder Patricio Munoz.
He reported that the Farthing variety comprised the most blueberry acreage in North Central Florida at only 16%. Sentinel and Optimus were reported at 13%, followed by Patrecia at 11% and Colossus at 8%. Producing multiple varieties helps growers spread risk for various pests and diseases and spreads out the maturity and harvest of the crop.
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