Cover Crops Blogs

We have been on the spring roller coaster for temperatures in southern Illinois.  March 15-17 saw temperatures plummet, with March 16 not even getting above freezing.  We saw lows down to the upper teens across the area.  However, by the weekend we were pushing 90 degrees for high...

The mid March cold snap brought temperatures in the 18 to 22 degree range across southern Illinois. Double row covers on plasticulture strawberries did not provide enough protection to save flowers from popcorn up to full bloom in maturity. Flowers in tight bud were saved for the most part. As of...

Over the last 5 years, efforts have been made at the Unity Community Center’s Research and Demonstration Area Garden in Normal, IL to rejuvenate garden soils used for food-insecure community food production through extensive cover crop utilization. This approach was taken due to the condition...

After the success of solarizing cover crops last year in our high tunnel, we will be covering all the beds with clear plastic mulch to achieve termination ahead of our April 1 target plant date for tomatoes and peppers. Plastic is stapled into the wooden side boards of the raised beds, spanning two...

Our outdoor growing season has come to an end with a few subfreezing mornings, with the coldest I have seen so far being December 5, registering 16 degrees Fahrenheit.  We got our first measurable snowfall on November 29, with about 3 inches of snow followed by 0.45 inches of very cold rain....

Two of the three high tunnels are completely cleaned out and have been winterized. The other tunnel has been seeded and is overwintering cover crops for the fourth winter in a row. Due to late-season tomato and pepper harvests, cover crops were seeded during the first week of November, about a...

October started as a continuation of the above normal temperatures and dry conditions. Temperatures have started to get closer to average in the last half of the month and finally we broke our dry spell. We had 2.71 inches of rain as of October 19 which was the first rainfall in almost a...

The continued warm temperatures through October made for ideal growing conditions for the tomatoes and peppers within the high tunnels at DSAC. While not the large yields like in mid-July harvests, tomatoes harvested in October had excellent flavor, size, no white core issues, and were probably the...

Weather and precipitation summary for Bloomington-NormalHere in central Illinois over the last 30 days, the hottest temperature observed was 91°F on September 13th, while the coolest temperature observed was 43°F on August 26th.Many mornings and...

No-till cover crop observationsPredator insects continue to thrive in the treatment tunnel (cover crops + cut flowers), including the many small spiders. The number of webs within all the tomato and pepper plants is impressive, especially as pest insects can be observed stuck in the webs. The white...