Missouri Produce Growers Articles

October 2024
• Tales from the Field: It's Going Viral...Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
• Using Enterprise Budgets to Make Informed Decisions
• FDA Finalizes the Pre-harvest Water Rule! What Does it Mean for Produce Growers?
• Tales from the Field: Phytophthora

May 2024
• Produce Safety and Pesticide Safety Update
• Nematodes in Tomatoes

August 2023
• Timber Rot of Tomato

July 2023
• Produce Safety and Pesticide Safety Update
• Growing Lavender in Missouri
• Herbicide Drift and Specialty Crops

April 2023
• Sweet Potato Field Planting Date Influences Yield in Missouri

February 2023
• Low-Temperature Injury to Unprotected Blackberries
• Injector Installation and Performance Check
• 2023 Pesticide Collection Events
• Pesticide Safety Education Month 2023

January 2023
• Watermelon production under protected production systems in Missouri to reach the Fourth of July market

October 2022
• Keeping an Eye Out for the Invasive Spotted Lanternfly

August 2022
• Pesticide Disposal Update

July 2022
• Pesticide Disposal
• Missouri Weather Update: Hit-and-Miss Precipitation

June 2022
• Missouri Weather Update: Conditions continue to favor drought
• Missouri Weather Update: It is What it Is
• Crucial Period of Disease Management in Grapes
• Missouri Weather Update: Another Week and More Rain in the Forecast

May 2022
• The Enemy Lives Among Us! Test Your Garden for "Bad" Nematodes
• Plastic Mulch Color and Soil Temperature
• Missouri Weather Update: Hot, Hot, Hot and Muggy Too

April 2022
• Missouri Weather Update: A new month, but similar story
• Strengthening Missouri's Agriculture: MU's Pesticide Safety Education Program is Hiring

March 2022
• EPA is reviewing fungicides commonly used on specialty crops
• Missouri Weather Outlook for the Week Ahead
• Top 3 Considerations when Submitting Samples this Season
• On-Farm Sweet potato Slip Production under Protected Systems in MO
• Private Pesticide Applicator Training 2022

February 2022
• Tomato Tissue Sampling for Optimum Fertility Management
• Produce Safety Update
• Responding to High Fertilizer Prices in 2022

February 2021
• Free microbial water testing for Missouri produce growers
• Snow Removal from High Tunnels
• Cover Crops for Vegetable Production

January 2021
• On-Farm Sweet Potato Slip Production for Field Planting

November 2020
• Soil Steaming to Reduce the Incidence of Soil-borne Diseases, Weeds and Insect Pests

September 2020
• Fungicide Groups and Resistance Management
• Soil-borne Disease Control using Biofumigants
• Powdery Mildew vs. Gray Mold on Tomato
• Sweet Potato Harvest, Curing and Storage

April 2020
• Weekly Commercial Horticulture Town Hall Meetings Planned to Answer Produce Grower Questions

February 2020
• Preemergent Herbicides for Aisles between Plastic Covered Beds
• Free microbial water testing for Missouri produce growers
• Tall planting beds to improve drainage and reduce the detrimental effects of heavy rainfall and flooding
• Mycorrhizae: Nature's Gift to Plant Health

January 2020
• High Tunnel and Greenhouse Tomato Production Nears Half of Fresh Vegetable Sales

December 2019
• Microbial water testing results
• Missouri Novelty Melon Trial Results

October 2019
• First Missouri Produce Auction is GAP/GHP Certified

June 2019
• Importance of Following Pesticide Label Directions
• Missouri Ag Struggles to Recover from Record May Rainfall
• Flooding unlikely to affect Japanese beetle populations
• Update - Growing Blackberry Production and Sales in Missouri project

April 2019
• Foliar Feeding Revisited
• 2019 Missouri Tomato School
• Low Tunnel Benefits and Opportunities for Specialty Crops in Missouri

December 2018
• Free Water Testing for KS and MO Produce Growers
• Biofumigation for soil-borne disease control

November 2018
• What's New in the 2019 Midwest Veggie Guide?
• Novelty Melon Trial Funded by Missouri Department of Agriculture
• New Horticulture Specialist Hired in the West Central Region

October 2018
• This Fall's On Farm Readiness Reviews
• Spotlights: MU Plant Diagnostic Clinic

July 2018
• 'On-Farm' Food Safety Reviews in 2018
• High Tunnel Strawberries Through the Summer?
• Another Look at Tomato Powdery Mildew

March 2018
• Air Pollution Damage on Greenhouse Vegetables

November 2017
• About Dicamba Problems and Opportunities with DriftWatch
• 5 Years Later – Are Blackberries a Viable Option?

August 2017
• Southern Blight - a disease becoming more prevalent in Missouri
• IPM Issues and Vegetable Crops in 2017
• Tomato Powdery Mildew Revisited

July 2017
• Fall Cleanup

June 2017
• Updated: GroupGAP or make a group to do GAPs?
• Virus caught early on greenhouse tomatoes

May 2017
• Frequently Asked Questions About Handling Flooded Produce

March 2017
• Monitoring and Integrated Pest Management of the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in fruits and vegetables
• Trap cropping: A simple, effective, and affordable Integrated Pest Management strategy to control squash bugs and squash vine borers

February 2017
• Controlling cucumber beetles and squash bugs in cucurbit crops

January 2017
• IPM Annual Report 2016 Debut

December 2016
• Thrips Insecticide Rotation Recommendations Available
• Grower Training for Food Safety Coming in 2017
• Will the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Regulations Get Rolled Back?
• Orondis Products

November 2016
• Cover Crops and Pollinators
• Japanese beetles plagued some parts of rural Missouri in 2016. What's their outlook?
• Soil health under study in Missouri
• Wet summer leads to diseases and more interest in high tunnels

May 2016
• Organic pest management to be showcased at upcoming Lincoln University Field day (June 9th, 2016)
• Accidental Herbicide Damage on Vegetables
• Two for the price of one: Enhancing Disease Control during Wet Weather using Copper and other Dual Purpose Products

April 2016
• Complying with the Food Safety Modernization Act - use GAPs or not?

March 2016
• Produce auction facilities shouldn’t be affected by FSMA compliance
• A Grower's GAPs Certification Story from 4 County Produce Auction

January 2016
• New insect and disease control products in 2016 Midwest Veggie Guide

December 2015
• Increasing beneficial insects for enhanced pollination and biological control using insectary plants
• The ‘State’ of Vegetable Grafting in the U.S.
• FSMA Final Rule is Published but Questions Remain

August 2015
• Herbicide Contamination and 'Outgassing' in High Tunnels or Greenhouses
• New Auction Opened in Webster County
• Rainy Summer Spurs Prices Higher
• Response of FDA to questions about their inspections in 2014 at Missouri Produce Auctions
• Timber Rot on Tomato

April 2015
• Comments on food safety issues as we begin the 2015 growing season
• New Insecticide Alternative to Neonicotinoids, Safer for Bees
• Powdery Mildew on Tomato

November 2014
• Bacterial Canker: a disease to watch for
• Delayed dormant fungicide sprays for small fruits
• Food Safety Issue Heats Up
• Whitefly on Field Tomatoes

August 2014
• 2012 Census of Ag Verifies Produce Auction Impact
• Missouri Disease Beat
• New Specialist Hired at Lincoln U
• Update on Spotted Wing Drosophila
• Why Not Save Hybrid Seeds?

May 2014
• Cold Late Spring and Control of Gray Mold
• From the Plant Diagnostic Clinic
• Was the Tomato Survey Useful to Growers?
• Water Testing and GAPs

February 2014
• Berries for Produce Auctions
• Cover Crops are Soil Health
• Foliar Feeding
• Food Safety and Other Announcements

October 2013
• Prospects for Plastic Recycling in Missouri
• Sanitizing Greenhouses
• The SWD Insert and IPM Workshops Being Planned
• Tomato Planting Intention Survey Coming Soon
• Two Interesting Watermelon Problems of 2013

July 2013
• Colony Collapse Disorder, the Varroa Mite, and Resources for Beekeepers
• IPM shorts from around the state and other items of interest
• MELCAST– what is it and how to use it
• Progressive market steps taken by CMPA
• Tomato Fruit Ripening Disorders

April 2013
• Marketing fresh produce in Vernon and Bates Counties
• MELCAST
• Spotted Wing Drosophila
• Understanding Tomato Fruit Set

January 2013
• Downy Mildew on Impatiens
• Food Safety Draft Rules Released
• Interested in Getting Started with Farm Food Safety, but not ready for GAPs yet?
• LU is losing its State Horticulture Specialist
• Strawberries and Fungicides

September 2012
• GAPs and How Extension Can Assist You
• Greenhouse/High Tunnel Shading
• IPM Related Announcements
• LU Hires an Extension Horticulture Plant Pathologist
• The Drought of 2012 and Vegetable Production

June 2012
• Bacterial Speck of Tomato
• Disease and diagnostic update
• Food Safety Modernization Act treads water
• Produce auctions increase to nine in Missouri
• Selecting insecticides or miticides with less impact to honeybees for use in Cucurbit crops

March 2012
• Lewis Jett Presents in N. Missouri
• Nitrogen and Plant Nutrition
• What Does This Warm Winter Mean for Insects?
• Winter High Tunnel Crops Picking Up

December 2011
• Do Produce Auctions Need More Fruit Growers
• Outreach Update for 2012
• Tomato Fruit Firmness
• Update on the Food Safety Modernization Act
• You Can’t Always Tell By Looking

August 2011
• Gold Fleck of Tomato
• Heat Stress and Heat Stressed Tomatoes
• Hero®: A Newly Approved Insecticide for Missouri
• NRCS Assists with Pond Project Plans
• The Missouri Disease Beat
• Want to worry less about micronutrients? Get your pH right for high tunnel tomatoes this off season

May 2011
• NRCS Technical Assistance Available to All Producers
• Pollutant Damage to Tomato
• Tissue Sampling: High Tunnel Tomatoes
• Understanding Damping Off Associated with Early Transplanting of Warm Season Vegetables
• Using Trap Crops to Minimize Damage by Insect Pests to Veggies

March 2011
• Copper resistant bacterial spot strains found in Indiana
• Educational Outreach Activities for 2011
• Fruit Thinning of High Tunnel Tomatoes
• IPM Tips for Tomato Disease Control in High Tunnels
• OVRCD’s Outreach to Produce Growers
• Snow Removal From High Tunnels

November 2010
• Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
• Fall Cleanup- Tomatoes as an example
• Is Organic Control of Cucumber Beetles Possible?
• Successful IPM Ideas from 2010
• Ten Comments on Vegetable Nutritional Quality
• This Year’s Poor Fruit Set of Zucchini
• Why Onions Bolt, Failing to Bulb?

August 2010
• Disease Update
• Emerging pest– Japanese beetles
• Gray Mold vs. Leaf Mold on Tomato
• Irrigation water quality
• Reduced Risk Pesticides, at What Price?
• Weeds! Spray It Again Sam?

May 2010
• Fertilizing Tomatoes
• Is High Brix for Vegetables Valid?
• LU’s New Kid on the Block
• Specialized Vegetable Activities for 2010
• Top Ten IPM Tips for 0'10 Vegetable Pests
• Your local specialist can help you, but now for the bad news