Southwest Research and Extension Center Holds Horticulture Field Day

The Southwest Research and Extension Center held a Horticultural Field Day on Thursday (6-27). Dr. Daniel Rivera, the Station Director welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. He also gave thanks to Terrie James and her crew as well as others who did the work to prepare for the event.

The first outdoor event Vegetables and Flowers with Aaron Cato talking about melon horn worms on pumpkins and how to deal with them. This pest causes the handle to break off. As much as half the crop can be lost due to it. Cato talked about having several planting dates in order to avoid a major impact. The issue usually appears late August and sometimes October. Planting early can help although with planting too early drought and high heat makes it tough for the plants.  The type of melon grown also matters a lot. Plants from the middle east aren’t as much attacked as the insects haven’t evolved to attack them. Gourdy, knobby plants also are not attacked as much.  Cato talked about devising an Integrated Pest Management system for pumpkins and seeing whether one application or two would be enough.  Another issue was when to cover them. Cato stated if it’s warmer earlier insects also appear earlier. Cato said stink bugs are the bane of tomato production.  Cato talked about the cost of using multiple pesticides and if one product could take care of more than one pest.  Planting a cover crop such as cereal rye before vegetables results in more insects, root worms and cut worms. A gap of three weeks between the cover crop and planting is recommended.  The best summer cover crops are cow pea and millet.

Blackberries trellis trials are being done. With the harsh summers plants are suffering. The question was asked how to get rid of blackberries past their prime. 7-9 years is the peak, beyond that there are a lot of viruses. Two years. Two years fallow is fallow is ideal. There needs to be time for the roots to break down even if the plant has died. It’s better to move to a new spot. Morning glory and ground cherries are tough weeds to control.

The next thing demonstrated were the high tunnels – two with shade cloths. High tunnels can be 50 degrees or more hotter than the outdoors. There is a higher premium if the produce is marketed correctly especially tomatoes. The recommendation is to remove the shade cloth in the wintertime because of less light. Experiments are being done on using white shade cloth if it reduces temperature as claimed.  About any crop can be grown inside if the person is willing to put in the effort. Cool season crops can be grown year-round. Lettuce production is growing. Tomatoes are done everywhere. Vegetables are the most profitable. Johnny’s seeds company is marketing seeds which are good to grown in high tunnels. Heirloom varieties don’t grow as well as they have lower yields.  One of the issues is build-up of disease pressure in the soils with growing the same crops over and over.  Flower crops and container growing isn’t as prevalent in high tunnels. Planting early, it can be hard to acquire plants. It is too cold then to produce from seed.  It is recommended to replace the plastic after four years even if you don’t see the damage as less light is let in.  For dry climates mites are the big issue. Once the mites start feeding leaves start dropping with the die back.  Blackberries don’t do great with pollination at 100 degrees so production declines with hotter weather. Tunnel design has a huge impact. Ventilation is key. Blocked off it could be 60 degrees warmer. The temperature in the shaded greenhouse at 87 as opposed to the outside temperature of 82.

The agricultural water source is important. If using a well and not sure about the quality annual testing is recommended. The Arkansas Department of Health test isn’t sufficient for agriculture. A lab should be used. For a pond there probably will be a positive for e-coli. Only a few labs in the state do the work – the sample needs to be put on ice and brought to the lab that day.  It is recommended to understand the source. If there is e coli the well should be shocked.  There was a demonstration trailer for cooling. 36-40 is the refrigeration zone. It is too cold for tomatoes. There is a full day program for product safety. It is a requirement for specialty farms.  Pond water shouldn’t be used for washing produce but if the levels are low enough it can be used for drip irrigation.

Despite the heat, the event was well attended.  The flower display was quite pretty.  Inside there were food samples of recipes demonstrated inside while the events outside were taking place. Shebas served the event.