(This is a copy of this week’s specialty crop grower email… shoot Maryellen an email if you want to get on the mailing list or have access to any of the shared articles: ms3573@cornell.edu!)
Hi folks,
I hope that this odd spring of weather fluctuations is treating you and your crops well.
I know everyone is super busy right now, but I just wanted to quick reach out and introduce myself to those I haven’t met yet, share some crop information with everyone, and make sure that you have my contact information.
For those I haven’t met, I started recently at CCE Madison to work with commercial specialty crop producers. My husband and I have farmed in Fenner since 2012, growing a mix of vegetables for local markets across Madison and Onondaga counties. Prior to that I operated and worked on farms in the Hudson Valley and New Hampshire since 1998. My academic background focuses on helping farm operations adapt to weather extremes while maintaining viable production.
I’m excited to be in this position to bring hands-on ag extension back to Madison County. I’m also eager to help entice Cornell researchers across the Vegetable Teams and NYS IPM programs to come to CNY for more in-person programming. We have a few casual field sessions slated for this summer but are working on a larger November shop meeting and winter lineup for fruit and vegetable producers.
I will be sharing vegetable and specialty crop information as it comes my way, but if you have any crops or topics of interest that you would like me to dig up more resources around, please reach out anytime.
Three articles are at the bottom of this email, thanks to the Cornell Vegetable Teams (you can email ms3573@cornell.edu for them!) . (You can also access the ENY Commercial Horticulture Team’s work via their blog: https://blogs.cornell.edu/enychp/.)
- Pumpkins – Transplants or Direct Seed? Mulch or Bare Ground? How to Maximize Yield?
- Spring Buttoning in Broccoli and Cauliflower
- ALERT! Tomato Seed and Plants Potentially Contaminated with Virus of Concern
Just a heads up on that last one (I know, we all need more tomato problems like a hole in the head). This is a new viral disease affecting tomatoes and peppers. There’s an in-depth fact sheet with links to photos here:
Factsheet on Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV): https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/tomato-brown-rugose-fruit-virus/
The factsheet is a bit terrifying, but this issue is strongly on the radar of seed companies, with a number already releasing lines claiming disease resistance. Locally, two seed companies found infected lots of “Sweet Prince” and “Brandywise” (both grown in California), so make sure to check your records (and your email inboxes for company alerts) if you are producing either variety. It’s not clear if this will become an issue in NY this summer, but rather we should all have this on our radar as a potential issue to keep an eye out for (and keep your sanitation practices tight when working in tomatoes!).
Other pest issues showing up regionally this week include leaf miners in spinach, beets, and chard; continued high cabbage and corn maggot pressure, and sporadic springtail activity. We also had areas of frost damage across perennial crops—hopefully, these next few nights stay warm enough in our frost pockets! With so many producers putting in temperature sensors across farm operations, there have been interesting reports of huge temperature variations across individual farms depending on sensor height and surfaces (plastic versus sod versus bare ground)—it will hopefully be helpful data to help us better predict localized frost damage in future years.
I hope that you all have a good planting season. Please feel free to reach out to me anytime—I’m happy to help be a second set of eyes for assessing pests and diseases, do digging into potential issues and solutions, or help with collecting soil or plant tissue test samples—we have both soil probes and penetrometers for loan/use at the office. Please also feel free to pass this email or my contact information along to any farmers that might be interested.
I look forward to meeting you and helping support your farm operation.
Happy growing, Maryellen