Today’s update will be our final update of 2022. With things slowing down in the field, we will take some time to focus on other projects, and the Weekly Field Updates will resume in January.
One of the things we will be focusing on for the remainder of the year is evaluating the SC Grower. We would love to hear your likes, dislikes, and suggestions on how to make the site better. The survey linked below should take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous. Click here to access the survey.
We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season, and we’ll see you back in 2023!
Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see this week’s Question of the Week, and check back on Thursday for the answer!
Coastal Region
Rob Last reports, “A little welcome rainfall over the weekend, allied to some warmth and sunshine, has improved the growth of strawberries. I believe it will be worthwhile for growers to utilize row covers for a month to ensure we achieve the thermal time accumulation. Brassica and leafy greens are looking good, with a little Alternaria leaf spot being found.
Zack Snipes reports, “We have some warmer and sunnier weather coming this week that should really push all of our crops. We are still behind on our growing degree days (GDD) for strawberries, but with the coming weather, we should accumulate a good many units this week. No matter how many GDD we get, if you do not protect your strawberries from deer, it won’t matter. Please protect your strawberry plants with a fence. I saw some beautiful crops on Edisto last week (broccoli, greens, lettuce, beets, carrots) with very little disease or insect damage. This time of year is the perfect time of year for sprayer calibration. Most growers are shocked to find out how much money they are losing because their sprayers aren’t properly calibrated or they are misapplying pesticides (incorrect nozzle, wrong pressure, clogged nozzles, not using adjuvants, etc). Clemson Extension has just released “Spray Fundamentals” online course that covers how to spray better on-farm. This, folks, is the best stocking stuffer or white elephant gift a farmer could receive. Click here to give the gift you’ve all been waiting for.“
Midlands
Justin Ballew reports, “We had a fairly cloudy Thanksgiving week. The temperatures were warmer, and we received between 0.8 and 1.1 inches of rain over the week. Sunday afternoon was very windy and dried out the rain we got earlier in the day pretty quickly. In a way, this was a blessing as it didn’t allow water to sit on the leaves of our crops for very long. However, the wind whipping the leaves around likely caused some small mechanical wounds that could allow black rot to take hold. Luckily, black rot levels have been very low this fall. Growers are reporting they had good sales of leafy greens for Thanksgiving. We will now reset and get ready for Christmas and New Year sales.”
Question of the Week
For this week’s question, take a look at the photo below. What is this plant that is blooming right now (late fall) and providing forage for bees? Hint: It has thorns.
Answer in the comments below and check back on Wednesday to see the answer.
The South Carolina Grower 