Don’t forget to sign up for the Virtual Strawberry Production Meeting we will have this Thursday (9/2) at 6 PM. We will have speakers from Clemson, UGA, and NC State and we expect it to be a great program. Visit the Upcoming Events page to see a list of topics and click here to register.
Also, if you haven’t already done so, please take a few minutes to fill out a survey to share your thoughts with us on Extension meetings. We’ll be using the information collected to help plan meetings over the next year. It will take less than 10 minutes and is anonymous. Click here to get started. Thanks!
Midlands
Justin Ballew reports, “We had a chance to dry out some this past week, though it really doesn’t take long with our sandy soil. Fields are still being prepped and planted for fall crops and what has been planted is doing well. We’ve been getting reports of high armyworm counts in pastures and row crops and we’ve been seeing some in vegetables also. Stay vigilant.”
Pee Dee
Bruce McLean reports, “It’s getting into a transitional period for vegetable production. Cool season crops are starting to be planted (in volume), and warm season crops, like squash, zucchini, okra and peas, are still being harvested in some good volume. Fumigation for strawberries is getting ready to get started. Blueberry propagation (green-tip, semi-hardwood cuttings) is going on. Fresh market muscadines are busy being harvested. Wine and juice varieties of muscadines are getting close to harvest. Carlos and Noble are really coloring quickly. Doreen is just starting to color. Testing for sugar content (Brix) will begin this week to identify the correct harvest date for wine and juice muscadines.”
Upstate
Kerrie Roach reports, “Dry weather this last week was much needed after the significant rains from the week before. As many other areas across the state, armyworms reports and calls are coming in more and more each day. Stay vigilant with your scouting. As with many of our tree fruit and nut crops, the pecan harvest is looking to be pretty slim after the April 22nd cold event that affected many areas of the Upstate. Continue to monitor and treat for disease and insect populations so that next year the are not even more problematic. For bearing trees, now is the time to be monitoring and treating pecan weevil populations. Several specialists have also recommended monitoring and potentially treating non-bearing trees as well, if populations detected are high. While ideally, no pecans means the life-cycle for the pecan weevils would be incomplete, there are most likely enough pecans present in the tree to support some of the population. Check out the Pecan Management Guide for more information.”
Andy Rollins reports, “Bigred peaches are in the upstate and quality is amazing. Use of pheremone ties Isomate OFM to exclude males from being able to find mates has been a huge success for late season peach. Insecticides alone previous years even with adequate rotation did not prove successful. We have fall collard, broccoli and other brassicas being planted. Both hot and other peppers are being harvested in quantity despite excessive rains earlier in the year. Squash and zucchini production is slowing with only limited late season plantings. Nematode survey work is being done this week.”
The South Carolina Grower 