By Juan Carlos Díaz-Pérez For centuries, horticulturists have modified the crop microenvironment to extend the production season and enhance crop growth, yield and quality. Some of the techniques to achieve environmental modification include the use of mulches, high tunnels, greenhouses, etc. Mulches are widely used in both conventional and organic vegetable production. According to Wikipedia, “a mulch is a layer …
New Findings on Growing Hemp in Florida
By Tory Moore As the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Industrial Hemp Pilot Project research continues, growers around the state have begun growing hemp on their own farms. Researchers from the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center (MREC) in Apopka have important considerations for Florida growers contemplating or currently growing hemp. Research lessons learned and …
Smart Irrigation Tools for Blueberry Growers
By Vasileios Liakos One of the goals of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (UGA CAES) is to develop new irrigation methods and tools for crops. Researchers, including myself, Erick Smith, George Vellidis and Wes Porter, have been developing smart irrigation scheduling tools for blueberry growers in Georgia since 2015. Smart irrigation is a new method …
New Disease Threatens Florida Strawberries
By Natalia A. Peres Pestalotiopsis is not necessarily new to strawberry. A strawberry fruit rot caused by Pestalotia longisetula (or Pestalotiopsis) was reported for the first timein Florida in 1972. However, the fungus has always been considered a secondary pathogen. But this was not the case during the past two strawberry seasons (2018–19 and 2019–20), when severe outbreaks were reported …
Coming Soon: New University of Florida Strawberry Varieties
By Vance M. Whitaker Two new strawberry selections have been approved for release by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and are in the commercialization process. Trade names have not yet been finalized but should be chosen in the next six months. For both, larger-scale testing will be conducted this fall, and commercial quantities will …
Problematic Pests of Florida Strawberries
By Sriyanka Lahiri Several arthropod pests occur in strawberries in Florida during the various stages of the crop cycle. Cyclamen mites (Phytonemus pallidus), if present, originate from strawberry nurseries as hitchhikers on transplants. Thankfully, a very small percentage of growers reported a cyclamen mite infestation during the strawberry season of 2019–2020. Soon after planting, armyworms (Spodoptera spp.), twospotted spider mites …
Florida Hops Show Potential
By Shinsuke Agehara Craft beer brewed with Florida hops sounds very attractive. But can hops be grown in Florida? Will the crop produce high yields? The most important question is: Will it be profitable? There are lots of rumors, myths and hype about growing hops in the Sunshine State. That’s probably because hops have never been grown commercially in Florida …
Building Better Soil
By Tiffany Bailey and Ida Vandamme It was about 18 months ago when we began planning our first crop to be planted on our newly certified organic field at Honeyside Farms in Parrish, Florida. The field was previously used for pastureland. It was easy to see that we would be starting from a soil structure that is common in our …
Establishing an Olive Industry in Florida
By Michael O’Hara Garcia With weather and soils similar to the Mediterranean Basin, olives grow in Florida and throughout much of the southeastern United States. Currently, Florida has approximately 800 acres of olives under active cultivation by 60 to 80 individual farmers in 20 counties. The groves range from backyard hobby plots with several trees to high-density commercial operations of …
Shallow Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Organic Growers
By Tim Coolong Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has been around for many years in a variety of different iterations. Most typically, SDI refers to a permanent drip system installed fairly deep (18 inches) and is used for irrigating agronomic crops such as corn or cotton. In many cases, vegetable crops are too shallowly rooted for a traditional SDI system, but …