LATEST POSTS
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Question of the Week – Spanish Moss
What year did the Spanish introduce Spanish moss to North America? This week’s question was a trick, as Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor a moss. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a flowering epiphyte (a plant that grows on another plant, but is not parasitic) that is native to the Southeastern US and parts of
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Weekly Field Update – 1/20/26
Welcome back to the SC Grower! This is our first update of 2026, and we’re looking forward to a great year. After some warm weather, temperatures will be cooler for the next week. Strawberries are developing well with various insect and disease issues around. Continue to scout regularly even though we’re in the middle of
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Spray Strategies for Strawberry Disease Control in South Carolina
Guido Schnabel, Extension Plant Pathologist Disease management is essential for growing high-quality strawberries in plasticulture. While Botrytis fruit rot (BFR) is a disease you can expect every year, Anthracnose fruit rot (AFR) and the more recently introduced Neopestalotiopsis fruit and crown rot (Neo-P) may or may not appear (Fig. 1). This largely depends on how
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Question of the Week – Yellowmargined Leaf Beetle
What is this critter hanging out on sweet alyssum? This is an adult yellowmargined leaf beetle (YMLB), which is well-known (notorious?) to many of our smaller and low-input brassica farmers, as it is very difficult to manage without conventional insecticides. It is a specialist herbivore of plants in the Brassicacea family and is a key
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Weekly Field Update – 12/1/25
This will be our final update of 2025. We hope every one has a safe and happy holiday season and we’ll see you back in 2026! The state remains dry, though there is some rain in the forecast for this week. Strawberries are growing slow in places and have growers thinking about covering to accumulate
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Question of the Week – Scurf
What is going on with the skin of this sweetpotato? This sweetpotato has a superficial disease known as scurf (Monilochaetes infuscans). Scurf develops on the skin of the sweetpotato and is not visible on the flesh after peeling the skin. Though infected sweetpotatoes are still perfectly edible, this cosmetic defect renders them unmarketable. Scurf development
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