Commercial Vegetable Production Blogs

Yield data is collected every year from crops grown within the high tunnels at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in southern Illinois. Plots are assigned within each of the tunnels based on the type of research that is being conducted, and replicated data collection allows for statistical...

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 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...

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...

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...

This October has brought excellent apple harvests across many Northern Illinois orchards, with a mix of traditional, PRI, and MAIA varieties showing strong performance. I visited several orchards this past month and saw healthy crops and steady visitor turnout. Post-harvest fruit quality has varied...

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. ...

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...

Soilless food production systems have become attractive as they present many advantages including more efficient use of the limited resources such as water that can be recirculated, growing food vertically in a small space, fewer pests, diseases, and no weeds that need to be managed, and the fact...