Author: Justin Ballew
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The Pesky Caterpillar Pests of Cucurbit Crops: Part 1
From Extension Vegetable Entomologist Tom Bilbo There are three common caterpillar pests that plague growers of cucurbits in South Carolina and elsewhere throughout the Southeast: the squash vine borer (SVB), the pickleworm, and the melonworm. All three are specialist herbivores of cucurbits, which means they (the caterpillar stage) only feed on cucurbits and are specially…
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Weekly Field Update – 7/24/23
Check out upcoming meetings on the Upcoming Events tab, and don’t forget to look at our Resources tab for links to crop handbooks, helpful websites, and related blogs. Also, check out the latest episode of the SC Grower Exchange Podcast. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see this week’s Question…
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Question of the Week – Bacterial Wilt
This week, the question was: Why is this row of tomato plants dead, but the next row is perfectly healthy? The row on the left has succumbed to bacterial wilt. In the row on the right are grafted plants that had bacterial wilt resistance. You can see the night and day difference between the grafted…
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2022 Lima Bean Stats
In the Fall of 2022, Extension Agents throughout South Carolina surveyed growers on specialty crop acreage for the year. This was the first year of what is expected to be an annual survey. For this first year, data was collected for six crops: collard greens, lima beans, peaches, strawberries, sweet corn, and watermelon. The goal…
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Weekly Field Update – 7/17/23
Check out upcoming meetings on the Upcoming Events tab, and don’t forget to look at our Resources tab for links to crop handbooks, helpful websites, and related blogs. Also, check out the latest episode of the SC Grower Exchange Podcast. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see this week’s Question…
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Cucumber Cultivar Response to Downy Mildew
From Clemson Plant Pathologist Tony Keinath This blog is an update on the preliminary cucumber cultivar reactions to downy mildew posted on June 16, 2023. Use the info in this blog to choose cultivars. Clearly, a few cultivars had temporarily “escaped” infection, although I don’t know how that was possible. In addition, the resistances originally…
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Question of the Week – Kudzu
This week, the question was: What invasive plant develops this attractive pink flower? These are kudzu flowers. You can see the characteristic trifoliate kudzu leaves in the background. Kudzu is one of our most common invasive plants in the Southeast. Interestingly, it was introduced intentionally in the early 1900s as a cheap livestock forage and…
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2022 Watermelon Stats
In the Fall of 2022, Extension Agents throughout South Carolina surveyed growers on specialty crop acreage for the year. This was the first year of what is expected to be an annual survey. For this first year, data was collected for six crops: collard greens, lima beans, peaches, strawberries, sweet corn, and watermelon. The goal…
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Weekly Field Update – 7/10/23
Check out the latest episode of the SC Grower Exchange podcast for an in-depth discussion on downy mildew with Extension Plant Pathologist Tony Keinath. Don’t forget about the Watermelon Field Day coming up this Thrusday (7/13) at the Edisto REC in Blackville, SC. Come and hear updates on watermelon research and taste some new varieties.…
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Seeking Stakeholder Input for New Fusarium Wilt Grant
From Clemson Plant Pathologist Tony Keinath The USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) funded as part of the Farm Bill provides multi-million-dollar grants to solve problems identified as priorities by specialty crop producers. Last year the USDA awarded a planning grant to the University of Florida to plan a grant proposal on Fusarium wilt of…
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