Commercial Vegetable Production

While fertigation is a great way to give our crops an extra boost, we still have many crops grown that are not irrigated and could benefit from a midseason nutrient boost.  I am going to share the equipment I have put together to side dress nitrogen on pumpkins. It could also be adapted to...

The following article was written by Dr. James Santiago, Assistant Professor Horticulture, University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences. Many specialty crops we consume develop from flowers including apples, squash, beans, peas, etc. Having an elongated shape, the State of Illinois has...

Northern Illinois Orchards OpenApple season begins toward the end of August. Most orchards have announced their openings for the weekend of August 23rd, with almost all open by August 30th. This timing is driven largely by 'Zestar!', a...

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...

Conditions in far southeastern Illinois have been similar to those around the St. Louis area as far as heat and high humidity levels. The sustained, elevated humidity along with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s have created conditions with heat index values ranging from 105 to 110 degrees...

Important considerations:Check The Cucurbit Downy Mildew Forecast Homepage for development and spread of downy mildew. Spray your field when the disease is in locations near your field with chlorothalonil (i.e., Bravo Weather Stik...

This season has been hot and dry with scattered rainfall throughout the season for Northeastern Illinois. June average rainfall totals were approximately 3.80 inches, 0.50 inches below the 30-year average. July average rainfall totals have accumulated about 4.12 inches, 0.38 inches above the 30-...

WeatherJuly was wet, stormy and hot. End of story. But really, some farms received excessive amounts of rain all at once that left them with temporary flooding conditions that was then combined with days of heat. Between July 10-11, parts of northern Illinois received 3-5 inches of rain. Some...

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...

It never ceases to amaze me just how fast pumpkins grow at this point of the season.  For us moisture has been very good since the first week after transplanting.  These plants have been in the field right at a month.  Pumpkins are starting to vine out and I just put on a side dress...