The 2025 pumpkin season is now mostly in the books for most growers, so I wanted to look back at some of the observations and challenges of the season.The early wet weather in May and then drought would probably be the biggest challenges. Where the drought and heat were most intense, we did...
The St Louis Metro East region has been so dry the last several months that it was rather bittersweet for the St Louis Metro East to receive a 3” rain event on one of the biggest fall agritourism weekends. On the one hand, the entire landscape was in desperate need of rain, but on the other...
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...
Its officially Halloween season, but that also means that frost is near for Northern Illinois. Some parts of the area have been affected by spotty frost, like Kendall County and parts of Western Kane County, which takes most crops out of production. For the operations impacted by frost, there may...
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...
Despite droughty conditions much of the growing season, the pumpkin crop looks plentiful. Apple harvest is in the ‘Golden Delicious’ window, including ‘Pixie Crunch’ into ‘Braeburn’. Though in the tail end, tomatoes are still in harvest. Fall activities like corn mazes, pumpkin...
As of this week, 9/22, we are about halfway into the apple season in Northern Illinois. I’ve had the opportunity to visit six orchards in the area this month and the crop looks good overall. Some orchards are running about a week ahead compared to last season. The end of September will bring...
Whether it feels like fall or not, fall is here, and pumpkin season has started. We have been very dry and other than a few breaks have had temperatures early in September in the 90s and now have dropped back to the mid to upper 80s for highs. Rainfall down here has been minimal. ...
Dry or low moisture foods do not quickly come to mind when we think about foodborne illnesses and the ways to reduce them. In fact, these foods are not among the top three foods linked to foodborne disease outbreaks in the United...
After missing an update in September, a lot has occurred in the melon research plot. Melons were maturing nicely until disease pressure set in late August, which was later identified as anthracnose. Melons started to show signs of disease on fruit, and vines were beginning to die off with immature...
