Cover crops were seeded on October 4 in preparation for year two of the Illinois Department of Agriculture HR 133 grant: Strategies for Improving Biological Control of Insect Pests for Vegetable Growers Utilizing High Tunnels. The process Seeding of spring oats at 30 lbs/acre,...

While the calendar says fall, it feels more like summer. Highs have been in the upper 80s and low 90s. Limited rainfall has been the biggest issue recently. Since August many areas have had 0.5 inches or less of rain. We did get a break the last week of September when we got 1 to 2 inches of rain...

With our research partner, Freeport High School Student Vegetable Farm, the annual strawberry plants study has continued to grow well into September. In July and August, we removed runners and cleaned the beds weekly to reduce pest pressure (yellow jackets, lygus bugs, small mammals). While these...

The ginger crop languished in the Unity high tunnel during August, putting on minimal growth — even with shade cloth in place of plastic over the top of the tunnel. The ginger trial team and I are starting to think that this crop may benefit from more than the 30% shade cloth we are using in the...

In walking through the hydroponic tunnel at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center this week, the stark difference in powdery mildew disease pressure could not be ignored and was the inspiration for this article.  In the guide from Missouri Extension,...

The St Louis Metro East in the last few weeks has been experiencing what I would call “resort” weather, with temperatures during the day in the upper 70s to middle 80s and nighttime lows in the upper 50s to low 60s.  Apple harvest is in the ‘Golden Delicious,’ ‘Red Delicious,’ and ‘Jonagold’...

Not to brag or anything, but we may be on a 2-week streak of what I consider perfect weather. The humidity levels have dropped making it easier to breath, and the temperatures have been in the upper 70s to low 80s during the day. We did receive about 0.1” of rain on September 21 which was just...

Pumpkins are doing well. I gave my pumpkins a side dress application of nitrogen the first week of August and they have really taken off we have fruit starting to size nicely. I have not seen any signs of powdery mildew yet but have started spraying preventative fungicides, especially given the...

If you work with specialty crops or have experience with two-spotted spider mites, please complete a survey from Purdue University designed to determine the limit of detection of spider mite damage. All responses...

We had a break from the summer heat last week, but this week the heat dome has moved back over our region creating very hot, humid conditions. With 95-100° temperatures and heat indexes ranging from 105-120°, much of the field work in our high tunnels is completed before noon with lots of water and...